Thirty-four-year-old Thokozane Mazibuko will spend the rest of his life behind bars after the Mpumalanga High Court sentenced him to three life terms on Thursday.
Mazibuko was found guilty of four counts of rape, three counts of housebreaking, two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and one count of theft.
He is said to have committed the crimes between 2013 and 2017 in the district of Nkomazi. Together with his unknown accomplices, Mazibuko is believed to have targeted female-headed houses, robbing the occupants and raping them.
Monica Nyuswa, the spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in Mpumalanga, said in 2013 Mazibuko and his co-perpetrators broke into a house at Langeloop Trust and threatened the occupants with a gun. They demanded money and forcefully raped a 16-year-old victim in the presence of her mother.
“He then instructed the victim to [take a] bath and [then] fled the scene with three cellphones belonging to the victim. Again on 23 January 2013, another victim who was seven-months pregnant was sleeping in her house when she woke up and found the accused and his co-perpetrators inside her bedroom,” said Nyuswa.
“They threatened her with a knife and demanded a laptop and money. They then instructed her to dress up and dragged her to a nearby river stream and gang-raped her.”
Mazibuko was arrested in January 2020 for a separate rape offence and was later linked to other rapes through DNA.
He pleaded not guilty and claimed that the victims had consented to having sex with him. He also claimed that he paid his victims R100 to R200.
Senior state advocate Vuyo Mkhulise led evidence of all the victims. Medical reports and the DNA reports were also presented as evidence.
Nyuswa added that Mkhulise also submitted the victim impact statements compiled by the court preparation manager Xolile Mzobe.
The statements outlined the psychological trauma they experienced after Mazibuko had raped them. One of the victims also indicated that her academic progress was severely affected as a result of the attack.
High court judge Shai ordered that Mazibuko’s name be entered into the national register for sexual offenders.
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