A father has been arrested for the alleged rape of his five-year-old daughter in Philippi.
The man has been looking after his daughter since her mother left Cape Town when she was just three-months-old.
The man, who cannot be identified, made an appearance at the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Monday where he faced a charge of rape.
A protest by various Early Childhood Development Centres such as Philippi, Khayelitsha, Langa and Mitchells Plain was held outside court.
The matter was postponed to 20 November for further investigation.
The alarm was raised when the child confided in her teacher at the
Philippi ECD.
ANGER: Protesters
Erica Isaacs, of the Kensington Police Station Community Policing Forum, was part of the protest on Monday and said: “The child’s mom left her when she was 3 months old with the
father, he was the child’s custodian.
“After the child informed her ECD teacher that her father raped her, the child was removed from his care and she is currently in a safehouse.”
Theodora Lutuli of an ECD in Nyanga is calling for justice to be served.
“I mobilised ECDs and organisations to be present and we all stood together because this is something that we cannot keep quiet about,” she says.
“Children are the victims who are helpless and cannot speak back.
“These types of crimes need to come to an end.”