Mahikeng Ministers Fellowship(MMF) in the North West Province on Sunday welcomed the combined 27 year jail sentence given to an Eastern Cape farmer and a Stutterheim mother who gave her daughter to the farmer for sex.
“The sentences are a victory for children’s rights and should encourage communities and children whose futures are being destroyed by sexual exploitation to speak out for perpetrators to be exposed and brought to book,” Chairperson of MMF(an interdenominational pastors fellowship), Apostle Zandisile Reginald Mpame said.
In calling for intensified protection of chidren against child sexual exploitation prevalent in rural and farming communities, Apostle Mpame said that it robs children of their childhood and can have a serious long-term impact on every aspect of children’s lives, health and education.
“Churches,non-government organisations and community structures should join hands with authorites to ensure that the orphans and child headed households are protected against this scourge,”Mpame underscored.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in the Eastern Cape, Tsepo Ndwalaza, said neither may be named to protect the identity of the children concerned.
The charges relate to incidents dating back to June 2012, wherein the 25-year-old woman intentionally gave her daughter, then aged 11, to the 59-year- old farmer for sex in exchange for money.
The woman had also arranged for another girl, aged 15 at the time, to have sex with the man a year later, in September 2013.
The Stutterheim Regional Court on Thursday found the farmer guilty on 19 charges, including two counts of rape, for which he was sentenced 15 years. He was also found guilty of seven counts of trafficking in persons for sexual purposes – which were taken as one for sentencing – which earned him a 12 year prison sentence.
He was also found guilty of 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, which were also taken as one for sentencing, and earned him an additional 10 year sentence.
Ndwalaza said the sentences would run concurrently, resulting in an effective prison term of 15 years for the farmer. The court also ordered that the farmer’s name be added to the sexual offenders register.
He said the woman was found guilty on seven counts of trafficking in persons for sexual purposes, which were taken as one for sentencing, earning her a 12 year prison sentence.
She was also found guilty on seven counts of sexual exploitation of a child, which were also taken as one for sentencing, and sentenced to a further 10 years.
The court had ruled that the sentences would run concurrently, resulting in an effective prison term of 12 years. She was not added to the sexual offenders register.
-TDN
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