EC Education allegedly inspecting independent Matatiele schools

MATATIELE - The Eastern Cape Department of Education is allegedly visiting independent schools in Matatiele, to inspect whether the schools are registered and meet safety standards, among others.

This is after three children were raped in the local municipality, allegedly on school grounds.

The incidents, particularly the rape of a 7-year-old girl in October 2024, have caused uproar across the country, calling for justice for the minors.

The last two weeks have seen multiple protests calling for action and government officials racing to the province in an attempt to calm the situation.

But further anger stems from the handling of the situation by authorities and the principal in which the little girl was allegedly raped.

Some sense of normalcy and calm has returned to Matatiele.

The second term has begun, feet patter down the streets once again, school uniforms neatly pressed, and backpacks are slung over shoulders.

But beneath the chatter and laughter between classmates and exchanges between neighbours, a darker reality still lingers in the rural area.

The rape of several people including children, one , a seven year old girl whose rape caused uproar across the country.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in local municipality – about 9 kilometres from the city centre is a little boy who was also raped allegedly on the premises of an early childhood development centre.

His grandmother, who has raised him, noticed a change in the child’s walk and demeanour when he returned from school in October 2024.

“I asked him later on the same day if someone had touched his body and hurt him without being specific because I didn’t want to ask him if it happened at school. He confirmed that there was. 

“He expressed pain and clenched the handle of the door. I asked who it was, and he named him. He explained what the person did to him. He said he went to the bathroom and the person took him to his office, placed him on his stomach, removed his clothes.”

These rapes have seen calls from numerous sectors for urgent intervention with various demonstrations held across the country, including in the place where the violations took place.

The nationwide outcry forced the police’s top brass to descend upon the province to comb through the docket of the 7-year-old girl to see if anything had been missed during investigations of the incident.

But these efforts are not enough to eclipse what families feel has been inaction from law enforcement authorities, particularly the family of another 7-year-old girl from Gobizembe.

“The child is hurt. We were not informed that a suspect had been arrested. There was silence. At some point, when we were probing, we were told that the suspect had been released. 

“First, we weren’t told that he was arrested. We didn’t even know that he was also released. Who has the proof that he was ever arrested?”

The schools in which the children were allegedly violated remain open.

One of them launched legal action in an attempt to bar the provincial education department from deregistering the institution.

This provides little solace for families and the community who feel swallowed by social ills as elaborated by a local activist who wished to remain anonymous.

“So, in retrospect, children are still going to die. When you guys leave, when the minister leaves, if there are no processes and clear pathways on how to curb this thing, we’re still going to have cases. 

“We’re still going to have people dying, we’re still going to have children raped, we’re still going to have women raped, we’re still going to have prevalent gender-based violence ‘til kingdom come.”