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By Shakirah Thebus 
53 m ago
Cape Town – More women have come forward accusing two older Bo-Kaap brothers of sexual abuse decades ago. However, one of the brothers, through his lawyer, denied all allegations of abuse.
This follows the YouTube video released by a young member of the brothers’ family, accusing the brother of sexually abusing her when she was very young.
They said they were also asked after reading a letter from a lawyer, which was sent to Cape Argus, the Daily Voice radio station and Voice of the Cape, from one of the brothers who denies all the accusations made against his client, calling it from “savage, without foundation”. and false ”.
“It is regrettable that this accusation has become public knowledge and my client invites anyone who accuses him of such conduct to formally charge him with the South African Police Service,” the lawyer’s letter reads.
“Under the circumstances, and if such charges were brought against him, my client would appreciate a prosecution so that he can clear his name of such charges.
“My client wishes to put on record that he has been a lifelong advocate for the rights of women and children and strongly and unreservedly condemns gender-based violence and sexual abuse in any form.”
The three women whose identities are known on Cape Argus said the letter served them as the last straw.
A 29-year-old woman said she was 11 when she decided to tell someone about the abuse, which started a few years earlier.
At the age of 8 or 9, the abuse had consisted mainly of touching and rubbing her without consent. She told her parents and two friends from school at the time. Then it stopped.
The reason he’s speaking now, he said, “It won’t stop. It’s just happening and it’s almost as if they have so much power, and no one will believe (the victims). “
A 37-year-old family member said the abuse started at the age of 9 or 10, with mostly inappropriate touches.
One memory that continues to haunt her was when she was younger and there was a function at her brother’s house. They told him to bring something from home and asked him to accompany him home.
“Because you’re so scared, you don’t want to say no, so I went.”
There was no one in the house and he had cornered her in her bedroom.
“He would push me against his bedroom closet and rub me, squeeze my breasts and kiss my neck. That is something that is repeated. “
Once he was older, he made sure to distance himself from him and that they were never left alone.
She said that while reading the lawyer’s letter she had a crisis at work.
“I wanted to scream … how can he say that and lie because I know what he did and I know it wasn’t just me?”
She said that most of the time he would make unwelcome advances when his wife was not around.
“Nobody knew. I always said that it is something that would take me to the grave. The reason I never told anyone is because they are people with power.
“The reason I did those things to you was because you were very insecure as a child and needed help,” he recalls telling him once on the phone.
She said that due to her prominence in the community, she was afraid to speak out about the abuse and due to her proximity to family, she would not be filing a criminal charge.
Another woman said she believed she was among the first to have been assaulted by him several decades ago.
“When puberty hit, he used to tickle my neck and play with my breasts. I was 10 or 11 years old. “
He said he had confided in his brother at 18. She knew it was not the worst case: “There are more victims in the family.”
A second person has also come forward as a survivor of sexual abuse by his brother, also a former educator and director of Cape Town for decades.
This comes less than a week after a Cape Town-born woman revealed in a video that she had been sexually abused by her paternal grandfather, since she was 5 years old. The video uploaded just a week ago has more than 107,000 views on YouTube.
The woman, who did not want her name released, said she was in fourth grade when she first accused her grandfather. “Nobody believed me and the abuse continued. They told me they are old, so they will die soon and it will be fine then. “
Now that he lives in a Middle Eastern country, he said there was never an opportunity to open a criminal case against him. As a child, she lived on the same property as her grandfather. The abuse ended when he was 11 years old and he moved with his family abroad.
The latest young woman to come forward recently is a close relative of the woman in the video. He said the abuse started when he was 8 years old and ended when he was 14.
“The first incident happened after I took wudu (wash before prayer) in the bathroom and he came in and when I came out he pulled me back and grabbed my wrists. He kissed me and touched me. Then someone downstairs told me to hurry so he let me go and said I would make a good wife and then we all did salah.
He said he only found out that others had also been abused by him in 2017 and 2018.
On Saturday, EFF members protested outside the residence of the two defendants on Upper Bloem Street, demanding that they leave the community. A memorandum was delivered stating that his actions had “violated the spirit of the community.”
Police spokesman Noloyiso Rwexana said that no criminal complaint had been filed against any of the alleged perpetrators.
Cape Argus
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