By Neelam Rahim

A popular entertainment area at Umhlanga, north of Durban, is emerging as a gateway space for the spiking of drinks and sexual predators.

A Durban woman has now stepped to the fore to appeal for justice for her daughter, who she says, was raped in April. The 23-year-old worked at a restaurant within the busy Umhlanga precinct.

The woman says she is speaking out, so other mothers or daughters don’t need to undergo a similar traumatic experience.

Other women have now also come to the fore on social media to inform how they experienced similar incidents, mainly about their drinks being spiked in entertainment venues within the greater Durban area.

“As a parent of a child who has been violated during this way, you simply feel absolutely powerless within the situation you can’t change due to what’s happened. It’s not that easy. You’ve got to travel through procedure with the police and laying charges and all of that’s excruciating because the story should be told and retold over and all over again to complete strangers. There’s just nothing I can do”, says the mother.

Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered police minister Bheki Cele to ensure that the men who gang-raped eight models while filming a music video in Krugersdorp’s West Village are apprehended.

“We have directed the minister of police and enforcement agencies to right away commence this to form sure that the perpetrators of this crime are apprehended and dealt with,” Ramaphosa told about 2,000 delegates attending the ANC’s sixth national policy conference in Nasrec on Friday.

Muridili said provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela had mobilised maximum resources to hunt down the perpetrators.

Ramaphosa said Cele had already been to the crime scene.

“We are following this horrible incident that happened. Communities across the country fear and are worried about gangsterism, armed robberies, rape and murder.

‘Women and kids are particularly vulnerable to the violence perpetrated against them by men,” said Ramaphosa.

He said crime also harmed the economy.

“The economy is being held back by damage to infrastructure, extortion at construction sites, corruption and the high cost of securing businesses and insuring assets. These problems are made worse by deepening poverty and inequality and by the impact of state capture on enforcement agencies and security services.”