Three trail-blazing models have related the blood curdling details of gang rapes they suffered at the hands of Lesotho nationals in Gauteng on Thursday.
The models, two siblings and their neighbour, were among the eight women who were accosted and gang raped by gun-totting foreign nationals while they were shooting a music video at a mine dump in West Village, Krugersdorp.
Police announced on Friday that 67 suspects were arrested following an operation by a massive police multi-disciplinary task team.
Speaking to Sunday World from the house of one of the victims yesterday, Noxolo Methula* described how they were punched, kicked, whipped and sexually violated by the suspects in one of the most heinous crimes to have shocked the world.
After finishing, the suspects ordered them to pour them cool drinks in paper cups, and merrily imbibed it in celebration of their evil deeds.
Methula said they were booked by their modelling agency to go for a video shoot in Krugersdorp for a gospel artist. They were transported to the artist’s place in Midrand, who later ferried them with crew members to Cowboy Farm in Krugersdorp, west of Joburg.
They then went to the mine dump where they started shooting the video. The victim said as they were excitedly counting down to the last scene of the video, they heard gunshots and three men appeared from nowhere.
She said after the gunshots, a crowd of Lesotho nationals came running at them from different directions while shooting in the air. “I hid behind a tree but after a while I came out trying to see where everyone else was.
“One of the guys saw me and ordered me to go lie down with everyone else. After that, one old guy who was wearing a balaclava called me and directed me to a grove of trees where he ordered me to undress and bend on my knees. He then raped me for about five minutes,” she said.
Methula said many guys kept on picking her among other girls, and took her to a grove of trees and raped her, even when she was profusely bleeding. “I am not sure how many guys raped me, but we can say around six and most of them had guns. They never touched any white people who were there with us,” she said.
One of the two sisters, Zodwa Makhubo*, said she was raped twice by two different men at different spots until she bled.
Her sister, Nontombi Makhubo* might have lost her virginity when she was raped by one of the suspects.
She said when she was lying prostrate with other victims, she was dragged to a ditch by one of the suspects. He dug a hole, put her in it, and covered her with soil up to her abdomen. “When he came back, he found me trying to escape, but stopped me and ordered me to fully undress and opened my legs. I had never been with a man before, and I didn’t open my legs wide enough, he started hitting me on my legs so bad that I forcefully opened my legs, but his thing was too big and he couldn’t penetrate me.
“He took a long time trying to push it in, and he was hurting me, but he still couldn’t. He ordered me to get up and get dressed, while I was shaking trying to get my clothes on, he kicked me from the back, and said my thing couldn’t open and started making a joke out of it to his friends.”
They were then robbed of their money, phones, shoes and jewellery. “They kept on saying ‘Ntshang di phone, e kae chelete’, even though they had searched and taken everything from us.”
When they were done, they ordered the male crew members to also undress.
The victims said after their ordeal, which lasted for about 12 hours, the suspects ordered them to leave in their vehicles.
They drove to Krugersdorp police station, with the male crew members still half-naked, and opened cases of rape and armed robbery. They were then taken to Leratong Hospital in Kagiso where they received counselling and medical care.
Police are investigating 32 counts of rape and 22 counts of armed robbery. The victims were also robbed of equipment worth over R1.5-million.
* (not her real name)
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