Residents of Morokweng Village in the North West have vowed to find the man who raped an 11-year-old girl.
Her family alleges police told them to find the perpetrator and hand him over, when they reported the matter two weeks ago.
Villagers say the police do not do their work in the area.
On Tuesday, three alleged drug dealers were burnt to death during a mob justice attack at the same village.
The child’s mother says when the child didn’t come into the house by 6pm that Saturday, she knew something was wrong. The following day they went to the Ganyisa District Police Station to report the girl missing. However the mother says officers told her that a girl had reportedly been raped in the neighbouring village, she should go see if it is her child.
“We are very disappointed in the police. When we went to the police station to report our missing child, they told us that there’s a child who has been nearby and that we should go by ourselves to check if it wasn’t her. It has been two weeks since the ordeal happened and the police have never updated us about the case. She has not even received counseling”, the mother laments.
Community members visited the family and promised to investigate the matter themselves. They say the police are failing them.
“The police failed to respond accordingly, so we volunteer ourselves to assist the mother to come forward with all the information of whatever happened,” says community leader Kamogelo Itumeleng.
‘Family should lay a complaint’
Meanwhile, Police Spokesperson in the North West Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone says the family should lay a complaint against the investigating officer with the station commander.
“We are not aware about the allegations that the family was not assisted when they went to lay a charge. We are therefore advising the public to see the station commander and lodge a complaint for investigation. We would like to reiterate that no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands because no matter how angry they are, no one is allowed to apply jungle-justice,” stressed Mokgwabone.
While the SABC news crew was covering the story, the mother received a phone call from the investigating officer who asked if they had not yet spotted the alleged perpetrator. The mother says that was the first time she heard from the officer since they opened the rape case on the 13th of May.
