A pastor is expected to appear in the Nkutu Magistrates Court on charges of raping 13 children in the village of Luvisi in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
It is alleged that the pastor lured the children to watch cartoons at his home.
He is said to have later played pornographic videos of the children before raping them.
The province’s Department of Social Development says the man has been molesting children since 2021, and the most recent incident was reported last Sunday.
Among the injured are 11 boys and two girls aged 5 to 17.
Provincial social development spokesperson Mlaba Memela says: “Unfortunately, this pastor was taking advantage of these children until Sunday. One of the boys was raped and he reported the case to his mother, and the mother tried to check on other children who might have suffered the same fate.’
“Because this young boy was able to name the other children he spent time with when his mother checked on them, it was revealed that all 13 children were sexually abused by the pastor,” adds Memela.
Meanwhile, three-year-old Mbalentle Kana’s body was found lying in her bedroom earlier this month after she was raped and killed.
She is believed to have been sleeping alone while her parents were in another bedroom.
It is believed that the girl was raped and strangled by the intruder.
A family representative for Sahiva Kana says Mbali’s mother discovered the toddler’s lifeless body after noticing the kitchen door was open.
According to the child’s mother, she made the terrible discovery while fetching water from the kitchen.
While in the kitchen, she noticed the door was open and quickly rushed into her child’s room, where she found her daughter’s lifeless body and started screaming.
The video examines the psychological effects of rape:
