North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, Nono Maloyi has welcomed the arrest of a ward councillor of Matlosana on two charges of statutory rape, at the weekend. The ward councillor was arrested after the parents of the two boys who are minors, opened cases of statutory rape at a local police station.
The sexually explicit videos and photos of the ward councillor went viral on social media platforms since last week. MEC Maloyi has denounced the conduct of the councillor and has called for law enforcement agencies to act accordingly to bring the perpetrator to book. He said the conduct of the councillor is in contravention of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which guarantees every child the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse of degradation.
He has appealed to community leaders to maintain the decorum of the public offices they hold. “The incident is an embarrassment and we will not allow nor tolerate this conduct of behaviour from any of the councillors. Statutory rape is a serious crime and must be treated as such. Government is committed to eradicating this scourge of gender-based violence and femicide against women and children”, he said.
He said society must stand up and work with the police to ensure that those who hurt or abuse women and children, face the full might of the law. MEC Maloyi said he hoped the victims will be provided with counselling to deal with this traumatic experience.
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