Old age home of horror: Claims of rape, assaults at NW centre

The North West old age home made headlines when two men, aged 75 and 92, were arrested for allegedly bludgeoning 80-year-old Godfrey Motsepe Thema to death in the early hours of 30 May.

Speaking to the media around the pair’s first court appearance, Thema’s family called for justice, adding that they were saddened and shocked by the incident.

Two weeks later, both accused died just days apart while in custody at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre in Tshwane.

It’s alleged Daniel Madumo and Jeremiah Mmatli attacked the short-sighted Thema when he leaned against one of their beds after returning from the bathroom.

In an earlier report by News24, centre manager Dipuo Sekhu said the attack took place shortly after the caregiver on duty had completed his rounds and was outside preparing bathing water for the elderly residents.

Sekhu is quoted as saying that they tried their best to stop the blood that was “gushing” from Thema’s head as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. 

However, Mmatli’s family say someone who witnessed the incident told them that it took seven hours for the ambulance to arrive, and by the time it reached the centre, Thema had been dead for two hours. 

Furthermore, their source told them Sekhu, a former nurse, allegedly did very little to assist the victim. 

Mmatli’s daughter, Mmapule Maluleke, says her father told her he had been complaining about a loiterer who came to their beds at night. But besides that, he appeared well-looked after.

The deceased had been living with blindness for about four years and had been a resident at the facility for just over three months when the incident occurred. 

“It looked like he was being properly taken care of. He was well groomed; his nails were cut, and his laundry was done. He was different from when he was at home [with his partially blind wife].

 “The only thing he complained about was that no one had addressed the issue of the loiterer who touched them during the night. I feel they should’ve taken this seriously because we wondered if this person was possibly losing his senses. My dad was blind, and he couldn’t tell if this person was mentally unsound or just being troublesome.”

She believes that if the staff heeded her father’s complaint, the alleged attack could’ve been avoided.

“My father was blind. We asked ourselves how he could’ve done something like this if he couldn’t see. Where were the caregivers when all this was happening?”

Maluleke says they laid her father to rest with more questions than answers, as no one from the Department of Correctional Services or the home had been to visit the family.

Jacaranda FM News reached out to Sekhu for her side of the story, however, she declined the offer for an interview saying she felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of media interviews she has had to take since the incident, adding she was beginning to feel a ‘sort of depression’. 

‘HUNGER STRIKE’

News24 reported that sources at the correctional facility said the two old men had been on a hunger strike. 

However, when confirming the deaths the department's spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo, said they were not at liberty to disclose Mmatli’s cause of death. 

READ MORE: Second accused in NW old age home murder case dies

Maluleke confirms her son, who had been to visit his grandfather in prison, told her that officials informed him that Mmatli refused to eat.

“My son told me that my father was weak, he’s not eating and all he wants is to come home. The prison warders there asked my son to convince him to eat. But I think he couldn’t eat because the food is just placed there, and he can’t see it.”

In a voice note shared with Jacaranda FM News, Maluleke’s son tells his mother: “Mom, I saw the old man. He is weak, they say he won’t eat, and he says he wants to come home. Mom, Mdala [the old man] is blind, how could he kill someone?”

Concerned, Mmatli’s daughter says she then asked her cousin to also check on him the next day. 

“My cousin told me he spent the day with my father, and though he was chatting away he kept mentioning that he felt weak, and no one had given him water to drink.

“Later that same day, my cousin called again saying [Mmatli] had passed away. This was around 5 pm, I guess he passed away just after 3 pm when my cousin left because he got the call at 4 pm.”

She says the family felt distraught after reading social media comments about the incident, where people cussed the old men.

“We buried my father and went our separate ways, with no answers. We just decided to leave things as they are and heal because my father is not coming back.

“My elderly mother is not well,” Maluleke adds.

STAFFER  ACCUSED OF RAPE 

A relative of one of the residents whose name has been withheld to protect the identity of the alleged survivor, alleges that a male caregiver at Ipeleng Bagodi raped her niece, who was living at the facility.

 The woman, whose 41-year-old orphaned niece had been residing at the home for at least five years, says she was forced to move her to another home after she heard rumours that an incident of rape occurred at the centre. 

“I took her there because she is not mentally sound and is unable to do much for herself. There is no one to care for her at home because our parents also died.

“There were talks that a male worker had been raping old and young women residents at the home. But we were never formally alerted to this, and when I called the centre manager [Sekhu] told me she didn’t see the importance of informing me because she had ‘taken care of it’.

“I heard about it from my mother’s cousin during a family funeral. She told me that it was all over the village and that it happened in February. When she told me it was May.” 

The National Prosecuting Authority and police in the North West confirmed that a suspect is expected to appear before the Brits Magistrates Court next month on rape charges. 

“Two counts of rape were opened after two mentally challenged victims, aged 38 and 48, were allegedly raped by a 59-year-old suspect in January 2024. The suspect was arrested on 30 January 2024 at his girlfriend’s home in Jericho village, outside Brits, after a co-worker reported that he found him raping one of the victims,” confirmed North West police spokesperson Amanda Funani.

According to Funani, the suspect made his first court appearance on 1 February 2024, and again on 27 June 2024 where the case was postponed until 5 August due to pending DNA results. 

The concerned relative alleges that as part of ‘sorting it out’, HIV and pregnancy tests were done on the alleged victims, and this – she claims – was 'confirmed' by the facility manager.

“She didn’t tell us the court date, or even what happened to the suspect.”

The woman says because of her mental condition, her niece was never able to give her version of events, but she won’t stop until she gets justice for her and other alleged victims.

Efforts to get Sekhu’s response to assertions over her supposed handling of the alleged rape were also unsuccessful.

ALLEGED NEGLECT AND ABUSE

Margaret Moremi alleges that her elderly mother was assaulted, allegedly by a caregiver, at Ipeleng Bagodi. 

Moremi says she had initially not been pleased that her mother, who was diagnosed with dementia, had been moved to the home, however, it was a decision taken following several incidents that caused concern among relatives.

“I went go see her at the old age home with some fruit and yogurt. What I saw when they brought her to me left me displeased. 

“She had an abrasion on her cheek. She also showed me her leg where she had a septic wound that was oozing.”

Moremi says when she asked the staff what caused her mother’s injuries, she was not given any answers.

She also alleges her mother appeared to have gone long periods without being bathed.

“My mother is light in complexion, but her skin looked dull and dark. On that same day, she asked if I was there to take her home with me. When I told her no, she walked away somberly, and I even shed a tear looking at how much my mother had changed.” 

Moremi says she then began enquiring about the process of removing her mother from the home and was told that she had to submit a two-month notice beforehand. 

While she was unhappy with the response, Moremi did as she was told and waited two months before returning to collect her mother.

However, she says, there was a new obstacle.

“The centre manager [Dipuo Sekhu] told me that because I wasn’t the one who brought my mother to the home, I couldn’t take her because my sister had instructed them not to release her into my care. I told her over my dead body.”

Moremi accuses the centre of being after her mother’s grant money, adding that Sekhu only gave staff directives over the phone as she was hardly at the facility. 

She confirms hearing rumours of the alleged rapes that occurred at the home and now the murder of Motsepe.

“We heard that one of the younger residents at the facility was raped by a caretaker. I don’t know what happened with the case against him.”

 Moremi says she left her own home to live with her mother so she could care for her. 

She says it’s after her mother became comfortable that she told her that her injuries were the result of a beating at the hands of a staff member.

“She told me that one of the workers had taken her suitcase and was giving away her clothes to some of the other patients. She claimed when she asked the staffer why they were doing that, the man whacked her with a stick, and she fell.”

 Moremi says her mother abhors the facility. She adds that she reported the alleged incident, but the centre manager allegedly ignored her complaint.

Questions posed to Sekhu about the alleged assault went unanswered.

Jacaranda FM News has been reliably informed that ‘officials’, although it’s unclear from which institution, visited the centre following the murder incident and ordered its closure by the end of this month.

At the time of this report, the North West Department of Social Development had yet to respond to questions about the facility’s registration and the alleged directive to stop operations.

Spokesperson Petrus Siko committed to respond on Monday.

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