Neighbours of Elias Sebanda have described the Hammanskraal community policing forum (CPF) chairperson, accused of multiple rapes, as a good person who assisted the community with night patrols and young people with job applications.
Those who spoke to Sunday World on condition of anonymity said they were shocked to hear that Sebanda is charged with the rape of four women between December 2021 and February 2022.
They were speaking to Sunday World on Thursday after the Moretele Magistrate’s Court denied Sebanda bail.
The four victims and their families were not present in court, and his co-members of Hammanskraal CPF declined to comment.
Other than the four counts of rape, Sebanda (43) also faces two counts of kidnapping and three counts of robbery. He was arrested on July 10, after DNA evidence linked him to the rapes.
His Kanana Ext 10 neighbour in Hammanskraal said Sebanda is not a criminal.
“He is a good guy. I am shocked to hear about these rapes. He never committed any crime when he was staying here with us. He lived alone and did not bother anyone.”
Another neighbour said she met Sebanda from the local community patrols.
“Other community leaders and I, along with Sebanda, patrolled every night,” she said, adding that he would also help young people with job applications. “He would take young people to the [Jubilee Crossing] mall to apply for jobs.”
Another resident said, “He loved hanging around with women.”
But a member of the gender-based violence brigade in the Gauteng community safety department said Sebanda should face the full might of the law if found guilty. “What he did was wrong and evil. Two of the women he raped were minors. He must rot in jail,” she said.
On Thursday, magistrate Lizelle van Zyl dismissed Sebanda’s bid for freedom on bail, as “he has not shown any exceptional circumstances why he should be granted bail”.
Sebanda had asked to be released on bail because his sickly mother and two children were financially dependent on him, and he also had no previous convictions or pending cases.
On the other hand, state prosecutor Sharon Nkadimeng told the court that the state had a strong case against Sebanda.
Van Zyl concurred, saying that taking care of a mother and children is no exceptional circumstance. “All of us have family members that we need to take care of,” she said.
Earlier Sebanda had disclosed that he had been living with HIV since 2016.
Van Zyl postponed the matter to October 9, for further investigations.
