A teenager who at 15 was lined up alongside three other girls so a 32-year-old man could choose a bride will become a mother next month.
Now 16, the girl was forced into the degrading parade a little over a year ago, and today lives the life of a makoti (new wife) to a man twice her age.
Those who “sold” her, including her brother and foster mother, through the practice of ukuthwala, to the taxi driver, are being investigated by the Hawks.
Any prosecution that might take place will not, however, erase the fact that she is now inextricably tied to the man for life – through their unborn child.
The girl is one of scores of child victims of a dark practice of abduction, forced marriage and sexual exploitation that is normalised in some rural parts of the Eastern Cape.
On Monday, a Weekend Post reporter joined a team of government officials, social workers, gender commission staff and a child rights advocacy group on a trip to the girl’s home town of EmaQwathini Location outside Mthatha.
Their mission was to rescue the former grade 8 pupil.
They failed and their mission will have to be undertaken again at a later date when all role players can get together.
Those involved in selling the girl – for six cows – were interrogated by the group who wanted to know where she was and why she had been sold to a man twice her age through what cultural experts say was a perverted version of traditional practice. The girl’s 22-year-old brother, who is not being named to protect his sister’s identity, readily admitted he had played a role in her sale – allegedly on the orders of his uncle from Gauteng.
In its traditional form, ukuthwala is an undertaking, used by willing partners, to secure marriage negotiations.
But over the years, say gender activists and cultural experts, it has mutated into a scary practice, used to sexually exploit girls, some as young as 13, particularly in rural parts of the country.
On Monday the 22-year-old told the delegation how his sister’s marriage had unfolded in 2017, following an order in September from his uncle, he said. The young man said: “He [the uncle] informed me that there were people looking for a bride and he instructed me to go around the village looking for girls from where the bride would be chosen.”
Four girls, some older than his sister, were recruited and paraded for the would-be husband and his entourage to choose from.
His sister was ultimately chosen by the group.
Those answers angered the delegation, who said the Hawks were looking into charging everyone involved in the sale of the girl.
Khula Development Community Project director Petros Majola was left fuming.
He was also angered that the girl could not be found in the village, with villagers telling him she now lived with her husband in Centuli Village at least 50km away from EmaQwathini Location.
With the delegation finding out the girl was so far from them only in the late afternoon, it was decided another trip would be made to Centuli. A date has not yet been set. Majola said: “The girl was under duress when she was picked up.
“Several people are cited in this pandemonium.
“A case of common exploitation must be opened against the uncle, foster parents and the husband.
“A 15-year-old child cannot make such decision on her own,” he said.
The girl and her brother, it emerged, were left orphaned when their parents died in 2011 and they were then sent to a foster family.
Gcobani Maswana, spokesperson for social development, deplored the version of ukuthwala used to sell off the girl.
“You cannot have our children being abducted. We welcome the intervention done by our colleagues,” he said.
The girl’s 50-year-old fostermother was at loss for words when confronted by social workers and police who quizzed her on her role in the marriage of a minor.
She said: “Women do not have a say if men have made a decision on a matter of this magnitude.
“It would have created problems for me should I decide to go and fetch her from her husband.
“I called her to come back home but she constantly said she was all right,” she said.
The foster mother also revealed that the youngster was eight months’ pregnant.
The 50-year-old foster mom was also in for a tongue-lashing from officials over the girl’s R950 foster grant which she has continued to draw over the 13 months the young girl has been married and living away from the home.
“I used the money to go and see a doctor.
“I am prepared to pay it back,” she pleaded with social development officials.
She was ordered to report to the offices of the Hawks and social workers in Mthatha on Tuesday. When asked how many Eastern Cape girls were forced into marriage through ukuthwala, members of the delegation said it was impossible to tell as it was highly underreported.
Dr Nokuzola Mndende, founder of the Icamagu Institute, said the 32-year old man should not have married the girl in the first place because she was still a minor. “What the foster mother did was very cruel.
“It’s very unfortunate that in this day and age we still have certain women who support male chauvinism.
“Patriarchy is never going to end,” Mndende lamented.
She said a crime had been committed and urged the relevant officials to step in.
The institute specialises in, among other things, culture, gender equality and empowerment of women.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Anelisa Feni said the allegations had been brought to the attention of the Hawks during a community engagement session in Bhaziya and the surrounding areas.
“All allegations are receiving the necessary attention and the Hawks are probing the matter,” she said.