Inanda teen tells of how her virginity was stolen in the country's rape capital

An Inanda teen who had her virginity stolen from her by convicted serial rapist Mthoisi Mthoba Mnyandu is one of thousands of damaged women from what is considered to be the rape capital of the country.

The teen‚ who cannot be named‚ is one of eight women Mnyandu stalked on the streets of the township.

“No one deserves to lose their virginity like that. I couldn’t enjoy being a virgin because it was taken from me at the age of 16 just after my birthday‚” she said in a victim impact statement.

“My virginity was taken from me in such a cruel way. All I want is justice to be done.”

Annual police crime statistics‚ released on Tuesday‚ revealed that the north Durban precinct recorded the highest number of rapes of every police station in the country. 278 cases of rape were recorded here during the 2017/18 year‚ still the highest figure in South Africa even after a 10% drop from the year before.

Mnyandu‚ now in his early 30s‚ was convicted of eight counts of kidnapping‚ seven counts of rape and one of robbery in July. He will be sentenced later this month.

He had‚ during his trial‚ denied ever raping the women and claimed the sex was by consent after he “proposed love” to them.

Later‚ under cross-examination by advocate Krishan Shah‚ he said “the devil made me do it”.

Mnyandu conceded that he was “overcome by lust” but continued to deny that he had raped them. He said the women who cried while giving evidence were just “acting up".

The crimes took place from 2010 to 2016 and all of his victims were all “small” in stature and teenagers.

According to the latest crime statistics‚ Gauteng was the province with the highest recorded number of rape cases at 7‚700 followed closely by KZN at 7‚032.