Riot Hlatshwayo

Riot Hlatshwayo

A Mpumalanga village is fast gaining a reputation and media attention for the wrong reasons.

This follows a spate of shocking incidents since September last year.

The village of Ludlow, near the Manyeleti Game Reserve, has been rocked by drownings, violation of a grave, muti-murder, school sex scandals, the killing and hanging of a dog on a school gate and now - rape.

Villagers told Sowetan that they apprehended a young man and handed him over to the Mhala police in Thulamahashe on Tuesday after he had allegedly raped a pupil from the sex-scandal-ridden Frank Maginyana High School on Saturday night.

"The girl had just alighted from a taxi . when a young man threatened her with a knife before abducting and raping her in the nearby bushes," said community leader Jeffrey Mashego.

Mhala police spokesman Constable Robert Makhubele confirmed that a young man had been arrested for rape and was expected to appear in the Mhala magistrates' court soon.

The provincial education department has expressed anger that the taxi failed to drop pupils at their school premises as required by guidelines agreed to mutually.