Gender activists have lambasted the justice system after a man who pleaded guilty to 13 counts of rape was sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
Limpopo police said Colbert Elvis Modiba, 27, pleaded guilty to the rapes, housebreaking and robbery in the Polokwane High Court on Monday.
He was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment without an option of a parole on Wednesday.
Modiba was linked to the rapes through DNA.
He targeted women in the Namakgale policing area, with his first rape case being traced back to 2008 and the last one to four years ago.
Modiba was only 15 when he allegedly began breaking into women's houses and raping them. The victims were aged between 14 and 35 years.
Gender activist Loyiso Saliso from the Total Shutdown Movement said the justice system had failed the victims. "Twenty-five years is not enough, not even for one rape. How does a serial rapist who has terrorised women over 10 years get such a small sentence?" asked Saliso.
"At what point will the government take this seriously. No matter how much we march and block the streets, we remain failed as women in this country."
#NotInMyName spokesperson Themba Masango said gender activists pleaded with the government to impose lengthier sentences to serial rapists, murderers and abusers all the time. "Our country has become the rape capital of the world and government should ensure that rapists are locked away and throw away the keys."
Some of the victims who spoke to Sowetan yesterday said they were relieved that their attacker was now behind bars.
A 29 -year-old victim from Giyani relived the horrific attack that happened in 2011. "I was coming from Polokwane going to Lulekani, near Namakgale, when two men dragged me into the bushes after I got off at a hiking spot in the area. They searched me, took my money and cellphone and later took me to an unfinished structure near a local mortuary and took turns raping me," she said.
The woman said she lived in fear for the past eight years because she thought the rapists would come back for her. "I'm relieved that the police made a breakthrough. I'm happy that he is now known and has been put away. I got justice, even though his friend was never found."
Another victim, 35, from Mbombela said she was attacked in 2014 while sleeping at her rented room in Namakgale. "I had made peace with my terrible attack and robbery until police gave me the news about his arrest. I'm at peace now although the pain has resurfaced again [following the trial].The sentence is not satisfying but at least he'll be gone for a very long time. I can move on."
A Namakgale victim who was also raped by Modiba in 2009 said her prayers had been answered with the sentence. "I was very scared that this evil man would hurt even more women because he was walking free. I'm now ready to stop blaming myself for walking alone near the bushes on the day I was raped," she said.
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