07 Sep 2018

Police in Maunatlala have expressed concern about defilement cases that continue to go unreported.

Speaking in an interview with BOPA, Assistant Superintendent Mopedi Moipolai said that defilement was a serious offence, which many parents are ignorant of, adding, “Cases of defilement are not reported and we only get to hear about them when the damage has already been done”.

Assistant Superintendent Moipolai reminded the public that the law protects minors from being abused.

He said they had realised that most defilement cases were swept under the carpet and thus appealed to members of the community to report such cases regardless of the relationship with the perpetrators.

Assistant Superintendent Moipolai encouraged parents to safe guard their children’s future by protecting them from defilement.

Maunatlala Junior Secondary School head, Ms Botho Makwati also expressed concern about the number of students who continue to drop out of school due to pregnancy.

Ms Makwati also urged parents to take issues of defilement seriously and report them immediately, adding that the more the community turns a blind eye on such cases, the more the future of the girl child is destroyed.

She noted that they work hand in hand with social workers and the school’s guidance and counselling teachers to try and address issues of defilement.

She thus called for the support of parents to bring the perpetrators to book. 

Meanwhile, Maunatlala councillor, Ms Salome Lesole also spoke of how the issue of teenage pregnancy remained undefeated in her area due to lack of cooperation, especially from parents.

Ms Lesole said the area continues to register young mothers, whose future remain uncertain, as they have had to drop out of school, while those responsible are not dealt with. Ends