The Eastern Cape Department of Education has agreed to pay a young Nelson Mandela Bay woman R5-million in damages after she was raped during a “house of horrors” fundraising activity organised for pupils at her primary school when she was 11.

She had just wanted to go to the toilet.

But on 4 May 2016, her teachers decided to turn the girls’ toilets at the Susannah Fourie Primary School in Kariega (formerly Uitenhage) into a “ghost house”, and she had to pay an entrance fee of R2.

Boys were given masks and told to scare the girls coming into the toilets.

In papers before the High Court in Gqeberha, it was alleged that two adult men wearing the masks issued to the boys had slipped into the bathroom when nobody was watching. The toilets were pitch-black because teachers had covered the windows with black bags. When the girl entered the toilets, the men grabbed her, dragged her to a cubicle and raped her.

The “supervising” teacher had abandoned his post and asked another pupil to collect entry fees, and nobody helped her. A young girl eventually entered the toilet and kicked down the door to free her. The men then ran away, according to statements before the court. They were never caught.

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She was only 11 years old. It was the third time that she had been raped. When she was eight and nine, two of her cousins also raped her while she visited her grandmother. Her family declined to press charges.

This week, she finally received some form of justice. The Eastern Cape education department admitted negligence, did not dispute the facts of the case and agreed to pay R5-million in damages to the rape survivor, who is now 19 and was represented by Lessing Van der Bank Attorneys.

She has been diagnosed with emotional trauma, post-­traumatic stress disorder, major depression and panic disorder with agoraphobia and tension headaches.

“The defendant [the Education Department] employees were negligent in respect of the said school activity,” read court papers detailing the department’s plea to the claim.

Her legal team argued that the teachers had “organised an activity that by its very nature was unsafe, alternatively organised the activity under the circumstances which rendered the activity harmful to young learners; organised the activity inside the toilet where male learners, female learners and an adult male were allowed to be present, behind closed doors in a dark, confined space without supervision; and had organised an activity whereby male learners were instructed to wear masks, scare and frighten other learners within the dark toilet area”.

Emotionally and psychologically injured

The brutal gang rape has left her emotionally and psychologically injured and she has been diagnosed with emotional trauma, post-­traumatic stress disorder, major depression and panic disorder with agoraphobia and tension headaches, according to papers before court.

She couldn’t stay at the school and moved schools four times, and continues to experience learning difficulties.

A victim assessment report compiled on her behalf says she needs urgent, long-term psychiatric treatment. She told the psychologists interviewing her that she was “terrified that the other children would laugh at her and she did not want to face the boys”.

Even though she had changed schools many times, she was bullied by a group of boys at another school when they found out what had happened to her.

She was described as a very bright student in her early school years, but she failed Grade 10 and had to repeat Grade 11.

The report said she did not receive trauma counselling from a psychologist directly after the incident because of a communication breakdown with the Department of Health, but had received eight psychotherapy sessions with a clinical psychologist.

Even though she had changed schools many times, she was bullied by a group of boys at another school when they found out what had happened to her. She complained but they were never punished.

She has twice tried to commit suicide.

When psychologists preparing expert reports for her court case asked her to describe herself, she said she was angry.

“She requires urgent, long-term psychiatric treatment, extensive psychotherapeutic assistance regarding the alleviation and management of her symptoms, as well as structuring and planning her future,” stated an expert report before the court.

Despite a unanimous motion passed by the Eastern Cape legislature in October 2023, the DA’s Yusuf Cassim said the department still had not published a policy to deal with sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in schools.

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“Every year we hear about learners who have been sexually harassed, yet the department has no policy in place to assist these learners. Victims generally fear reprisals, reputational damage and further abuse if they come forward.

“The lack of urgency raises serious questions regarding the department’s commitment to dealing with gender-based violence in schools,” Cassim said.

According to the latest available numbers, more than 1,000 pupils in the province were sexually assaulted between January 2021 and October 2022, Cassim said. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.