Dispatches

South Africa: Fuzeka

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Fuzeka

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Fuzeka, aged 12

[Related Dispatches: The Lost Girls of South Africa ]

Watch a video clip of Fuzeka

The father of 12-year-old Fuzeka offered to use a condom with her because he is HIV positive. When her outraged mother confronted him he said that no man was going to have sex with his daughter before he did. He was arrested and charged with rape, but the court dismissed the charges and sent him home.

Fuzeka now cannot sleep at night for fear of her father coming in to her room. 'I think people who abuse their children are cruel and disgusting', she says.

She also fears for her mother's safety in the house; one in four women suffer domestic violence in South Africa.

We follow Fuzeka, her mother and little sister as they leave their home – one of the two million breezeblock houses built by the ANC government since taking power in 1994 – to a tiny plywood shack, a 10 minute walk away. They'll have no electricity, no running water and no toilet facilities, but they are happy that at least they won't be sharing a roof with Fuzeka's father. But then he starts to visit the shack in the night...

Read more:
Gretchen 
Nozuko 
Ntombizanele 

South Africa: Rape Facts 

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