Pretoria - The parents of the 6-year-old girl who was allegedly raped at Khensani Primary School in Soshanguve earlier this month want the child to be relocated to a different school for safety reasons.
The girl, who is in Grade 1, was allegedly raped by a general worker in a school toilet on August 2.
The incident has caused much anger among parents whose children go to the school, especially with the arrest of the alleged perpetrator still pending.
It is believed that some parents threatened to shut down the school because they were worried about the safety of their children.
The learner’s mother said the request to remove the child from the school was made to Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi when he recently visited the family.
The parents are searching for a new school for their daughter.
But they have expressed dismay that they were not receiving assistance from social workers in terms of finding a space in another school.
“As parents of the child we are looking for a space for our daughter, but social workers do not want to help us,” she said.
Both parents were also unhappy with the slow pace at which the investigation was taking place.
"Today (yesterday) we are going to the police station to complain to the station commander that there has not been any inroads made into the case. The officer who is investigating the case comes to our house to ask the child the same questions almost every day.
“What the officer is doing is just traumatising our girl even more," she said.
Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele confirmed that no arrest had been an arrest made as yet.
“The investigation is at an advanced stage,” he said.
Patrick Skhumbana, South African Democratic Teachers Union regional secretary, said they were still gathering information on the case.
He said the union had come across new information and would release a press statement in a few days through the office of the provincial secretary.
Civil society organisation #NotInMyName has called on the police to act swiftly to make sure they get a conviction as quickly as possible.
Lesufi announced last week the removal of five contracted workers from the school until they were cleared by expert reports, including police identity parades for the alleged victim to identify the suspect implicated in the crime.
Pretoria News