SINFUL SEBINA
Kgosi Shatani Kgakanyane of Sebina is a disturbed leader. School-going children in her area are into drugs and prostitution.
She was recently left dumbfounded when she found out that Shangano Junior Secondary School students were selling drugs to members of the public.
“I was shocked when I spotted them near the shops recently. They are so free that they approach almost everyone. They tried selling me drugs, I still wonder if they truly did not know who I was or if they were just testing my reaction. I was so disgusted.”
“With the way they do it, I will not be surprised if they one day sell even to police officers because they approach almost anyone in Sebina without minding who they are,” a worried Kgakanyane said. She says her village is heavily infested with drugs that even members of the community see it as normal, and are not bothered.
Kgosi suspects that the drugs could be coming into the country through illegal points of entry as her village is close to the Zimbabwean border. This is because even the police turn up with nothing much when they search for drugs.
“We really do not know where they are getting the drugs from. We suspect that they are being supplied from outside the country,” she said. Moreover, Kgosi explained that they usually have big freight trucks passing through Sebina from Zambia to Kazungula.
It is during those times that Shangano Junior school girls throw away their books for sex. They forget all about classes and chase after the men driving these big vehicles.
Her heart recently broke when she realised that about five girls from Marobela and Nshakashogwe villages blatantly refused to go back to school when asked to, saying they would rather be making money than be in classes.
“Things that happen in Sebina are heartbreaking. You know at one point I took in one of the children here, trying to guide her into righteousness. She would on some days disappear on me and I would start looking for her in bars in the middle of the night,” Kgosi lamented.
“A majority of our young girls fall pregnant and easily drop out of school. When we talk to them, they tell us that they are dating men who smoke and drink.
“It does not help that some parents have also thrown in the towel, you cannot even differentiate between adults and minors anymore. This village is rotten to the core!”
When reached for comment, Shangano Secondary School headmaster Ms. Rauwe was not in a position to confirm or deny what Kgosi Kgakanyane had shared about her students.
However, an educator at Shangano who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity was ready to lay everything bare.
“Bathong re thuseng, go na le lefelo gatwe ko Crossing kwa, bana ba rona ba heletse koo,” said the source, explaining that there was a very popular resting place called Sebina Crossroads where people mainly buy food and sip a beer.
“Our students go there a lot, if you go there in the evening, you will shed a tear, even faint, that place is terrible, you find our girls in mini-skirts entertaining elderly men.
“One student once absconded from school and when I asked her where she had been, she simply said ko mohevong. I did not know what Mohevo was and when I asked the other students, they
laughed at me as without shame they told me that Mohevo meant sex. My heart sunk.”
The said student said to have in the past been molested by her own father after her mother died. She was treated for Sexually Transmitted Diseases almost every week and even when given condoms to use, she threw them away.
Social workers and the Police had intervened in the matter several times, but it seemed the father always found ways of continuing to sexually abuse her.
The educator said they are losing bright students to truck drivers. The men turn students into sex workers until they return to their home countries, leaving the students pregnant and some even infected with HIV/AIDS.
“The painful thing is that most students live alone around here. They are orphans who are left in the care of guardians who do not give a hoot about what they do. So at times when you ask a student why they did not bathe in the morning, they will tell you that they have no toiletries.”
The source said the situation was very bad to a point that teachers at Shangano have decided that they will each pop out P5 every week to help students survive. The money is far from meeting the needs of students.
On behalf of other educators, they are pleading for help, their students have no uniforms and shoes, and students largely depend on donations. “I really wish that donors could look our way, our students get uniform from completing students. However, the uniform is usually old and torn because the completing students would have worn it for the three years they were here.”
Tutume police station commander Lesego Kgosiemang said he was not aware that Sebina was heavily infected with student molesters. “The problem is that people do not report to the police. They see things happening and do not come to us.
A lot of cases go unreported, especially where children are raped by family members, some families choose to sweep these under the carpet,” he said, adding that they had on one or two occasions heard about young people who sell dagga muffins.
“Well those were just allegations, the police need evidence so we are appealing to the Sebina community to assist do away with crime in the community,” he said.
She was recently left dumbfounded when she found out that Shangano Junior Secondary School students were selling drugs to members of the public.
“I was shocked when I spotted them near the shops recently. They are so free that they approach almost everyone. They tried selling me drugs, I still wonder if they truly did not know who I was or if they were just testing my reaction. I was so disgusted.”
“With the way they do it, I will not be surprised if they one day sell even to police officers because they approach almost anyone in Sebina without minding who they are,” a worried Kgakanyane said. She says her village is heavily infested with drugs that even members of the community see it as normal, and are not bothered.
Kgosi suspects that the drugs could be coming into the country through illegal points of entry as her village is close to the Zimbabwean border. This is because even the police turn up with nothing much when they search for drugs.
“We really do not know where they are getting the drugs from. We suspect that they are being supplied from outside the country,” she said. Moreover, Kgosi explained that they usually have big freight trucks passing through Sebina from Zambia to Kazungula.
It is during those times that Shangano Junior school girls throw away their books for sex. They forget all about classes and chase after the men driving these big vehicles.
Her heart recently broke when she realised that about five girls from Marobela and Nshakashogwe villages blatantly refused to go back to school when asked to, saying they would rather be making money than be in classes.
“Things that happen in Sebina are heartbreaking. You know at one point I took in one of the children here, trying to guide her into righteousness. She would on some days disappear on me and I would start looking for her in bars in the middle of the night,” Kgosi lamented.
“A majority of our young girls fall pregnant and easily drop out of school. When we talk to them, they tell us that they are dating men who smoke and drink.
“It does not help that some parents have also thrown in the towel, you cannot even differentiate between adults and minors anymore. This village is rotten to the core!”
When reached for comment, Shangano Secondary School headmaster Ms. Rauwe was not in a position to confirm or deny what Kgosi Kgakanyane had shared about her students.
However, an educator at Shangano who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity was ready to lay everything bare.
“Bathong re thuseng, go na le lefelo gatwe ko Crossing kwa, bana ba rona ba heletse koo,” said the source, explaining that there was a very popular resting place called Sebina Crossroads where people mainly buy food and sip a beer.
“Our students go there a lot, if you go there in the evening, you will shed a tear, even faint, that place is terrible, you find our girls in mini-skirts entertaining elderly men.
“One student once absconded from school and when I asked her where she had been, she simply said ko mohevong. I did not know what Mohevo was and when I asked the other students, they
laughed at me as without shame they told me that Mohevo meant sex. My heart sunk.”
The said student said to have in the past been molested by her own father after her mother died. She was treated for Sexually Transmitted Diseases almost every week and even when given condoms to use, she threw them away.
Social workers and the Police had intervened in the matter several times, but it seemed the father always found ways of continuing to sexually abuse her.
The educator said they are losing bright students to truck drivers. The men turn students into sex workers until they return to their home countries, leaving the students pregnant and some even infected with HIV/AIDS.
“The painful thing is that most students live alone around here. They are orphans who are left in the care of guardians who do not give a hoot about what they do. So at times when you ask a student why they did not bathe in the morning, they will tell you that they have no toiletries.”
The source said the situation was very bad to a point that teachers at Shangano have decided that they will each pop out P5 every week to help students survive. The money is far from meeting the needs of students.
On behalf of other educators, they are pleading for help, their students have no uniforms and shoes, and students largely depend on donations. “I really wish that donors could look our way, our students get uniform from completing students. However, the uniform is usually old and torn because the completing students would have worn it for the three years they were here.”
Tutume police station commander Lesego Kgosiemang said he was not aware that Sebina was heavily infected with student molesters. “The problem is that people do not report to the police. They see things happening and do not come to us.
A lot of cases go unreported, especially where children are raped by family members, some families choose to sweep these under the carpet,” he said, adding that they had on one or two occasions heard about young people who sell dagga muffins.
“Well those were just allegations, the police need evidence so we are appealing to the Sebina community to assist do away with crime in the community,” he said.
