WC CHILD PROTECTION WEEK PROJECTS

MAB WC started Child Protection Week with a high receiving a donation of 34 dolls to be used by forensic social workers based at the Child Protection Units. These dolls will be used in the assessment of children who were raped. We would like to thank Thorburn Securities for this generous donation.

Staff from Absa Trust packed and donated 40 comfort packs to the Bellville FCS unit. These packs will be given to children who have been raped and reported the crimes against them.

Staff and management at Absa Insurers and Financial Advisers also collected goods and packed more than a 100 comfort packs. These were donated to various FCS units in the Western Cape.

CEO, Monique Strydom, visited Bellville South Primary School. She was joined by popular Afrikaan singer, Nedine Blom and staff from the Parow Sexual Offences Court. The kids were inspired to be a Hero and report crimes against them. Jataime Bees also won a brand new bicycle in the Hero Campaign.

MAB WC ended Child Protection Week by partnering with NGO's, Friends of Child Protection and Connect Network. A special Service of Hope and Blessing was hosted at Gardens Presbyterian Church. MAB presented a special Voices program with a group of kids. Everyone who attended tied green ribbons on the fences of the church to make people aware of the plight of abused children.

A day of great exposure

The media has been very kind to Matla A Bana. CEO Monique Strydom started the day with an early morning interview with Expresso Show on SABC. Then a great interview with KFM and ended the day off with an hour long interview on child abuse at Radio Tygerberg. Thanx to all our media partners for helping us spread the word!

Wynberg project in the paper!

Thnx People's Post for this great article!

SAPS Soft Skills Training

Gauteng MAB trained 25 SAPS FCS detective in soft skills needed to work with traumatized victims. This is part of a five module training course. Leonore Louw (Reach Africa, bottom left), is sponsoring this training course to the value of more than R 100 000. 

We would like to thank the following sponsors:
Reach Africa
Mosaiek
Roodepoort Town Lodge
Roman's 

Child Protection Month 2013

Comfort pack donation

We would like to thank the Art of Living Foundation for donating 600 comfort packs for medium and small girls on 13 May. These packs will be given to the SAPS FCS units to give to little girls when they report the crimes! This donation will go a far way to change a life! Thank you Deeps Patel for driving this great project.

Wynberg Child Friendly room opened

Due to hard work and dedication from a group of radiography students from the CPTU, the reporting room and waiting area at Wynberg FCS has been upgraded to be child friendly. Rotary Claremont also donated R15000 towards upgrading this facility to a full reporting facility.

Thank you Megan and the girls for a job well done!!!

Interact Fairmont shines

We would like to thank the Rotary Interact Group at Fairmont High School for their continued support. They donated bags full of goodies needed for the comfort pack project!

Serial Rape Investigation Course Gauteng

In April Matla A Bana hosted 3 days of Investigation of Serial Rape (with the help of Brig Labuschange) for 25 FCS Detectives stationed the GT Provincial Office - this task team will be responsible for the investigation of serial rape cases. 
Thank you to Rosebank Union Church for sponsoring the venue and catering.

THE DEDICATION OF FCS DETECTIVES

Johannesburg - For months they would lie in wait at dumping areas around Joburg, dressed in worn-out and dirty overalls pretending to be peasants. 

In the early hours of the morning, late at night, in the freezing cold or in pouring rain, Warrant Officer Morake Khoali, Captain Maria Mokhele, constables Leutsoa Mofokeng and Jerry Khambule, from the Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit in Vereeniging, would be there.

They would roam around, pretending to be looking for items around the rubbish dumps, while they were in fact hoping to catch two men travelling in a minibus taxi and raping women at dumping sites around the Vaal area.

The men’s first rapes of the day were between 3am and 6am.

Any woman who was by herself on the road and who flagged down their taxi between those times was their target.

Their second rapes of the day took place in the evening; the last woman in the taxi was their victim. They would park their taxi and take turns raping the woman and leave her there naked, or throw her out while the taxi was moving.

Their reign of terror continued for eight months, from January 2008.

The officers were frustrated when their stakeouts at the places where the rapes were committed never bore any fruit and, in the meantime, the rapes were getting out of control.

They were unable to focus on anything else. They never rested. They neglected their families. They slept at their offices and out at dumping sites. Their informants didn’t have any information. None of the victims had managed to take the registration number of the minibus taxi; all they had was a description.

Another problem was that women were being raped in Orange Farm, Lenasia, Ennerdale, De Deur and Evaton, and it was therefore not known where exactly the rapists were operating from.

As the rapes mounted, the officers approached the taxi industry for help.

“We got a lot of problems there, some taxi bosses did not want to help,” Khoali recalled.

One taxi operator stepped forward, though. He told the police that he knew the taxi they wanted and what its normal route was.

Just as the police were getting excited about the lead, they arrived at the office to hear that the men had just raped their 52nd victim.

With the information from the taxi informant, the last victim and her father, who is also in the taxi industry, the police were able to make an arrest the next day.

By the time the matter went to court, 27 of the women were willing to proceed with the case and the others had withdrawn the charges, saying they did not want their families to know about the rapes.

The trial lasted three years and the State had more than 200 witnesses.

On March 13, 2012, Boitumelo Galubetse was sentenced to 780 years and 51 life sentences, while his friend Bongani Madlala got 49 life sentences and 780 years.

The victims, their parents and the community were so touched by the dedication of the officers to the case that they threw a party on Saturday to thank them.

Malekhotla Mofokeng, a mother of one of the victims, had tears in her eyes as she described the journey from when her daughter was raped until the matter was finally completed.

“It was a difficult and painful journey we were on and we thought it important, as parents and victims, to show gratitude,” she said.

Khoali said this was one of the most difficult cases he had ever worked on. “There were times when I did not go inside the court because it was too painful. The victims would be crying while testifying and the accused would be sitting there, laughing at them.

“On the other hand, the lawyers would be attacking them… it was too painful to watch. I thank God that we got them before they killed anyone,” he said.

The Star

Old Mutual Run for more than yourself

Old Mutual nominated MAB as one of the beneficiaries of this campaign. Ryan O'Connor also ran for MAB! Nearly R28 000 was raised with this project! 

New partnership with UJ

MAB did a presentation to the Students at the Department of Strategic Communication at UJ. This group is going to help MAB with a communications plan! We are very excited about this partnership. Not only do we hope to win the young people over to our cause, but we know that their creative talents will help us get our important messages across.

Absa supports Xtreme rider

Absa, proud title sponsor of the Absa Cape Epic, is honoured to donate the sum of R 50 000.00 to Matla A Bana on behalf of Bert van der Walt. Bert is a valued employee of Absa who cycled from Johannesburg to Cape Town for this cause, and shortly thereafter participated in and successfully completed the world’s toughest mountain bike race, the Absa Cape Epic, in a continued effort to raise awareness for the fight against child abuse. Well done, Bert, we are proud of you and your tenacious display of the Human Spirit!

New Facebook site

Please show your support by liking our new Facebook site.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Matla-A-Bana/226641587461162

Gauteng gets another room

With the financial help from Old Mutual Foundation, MAB could implement a child-friendly room at the Benoni Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences SAPS unit. This was long due and we would like to thank Old Mutual for the continued assistance.