Edenburg Pastor Given Stiff Sentence for Raping Minor, South Africans Celebrate

• South Africans were relieved when a pastor from Edenburg in the Free State was given two life sentences for rapoing his 12-year-old stepdaughter for three years
• The man started raping the victim in 2019 shen her mother worked night shifts and continued until 2022
• She informed her mother, and she opened a case against him, and South Africans clapped for the man's sentence

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered criminal activities, cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings, taxi violence, police investigations, police shootouts and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

EDENBURG, FREE STATE — The Edenburg Regional court sentenced an Edenburg, Free State pastor to two life terms on 23 May 2025for raping a minor multiple times for three years. South Africans celebrated the sentence.

Rapist pastor sentenced to life

According to the South African olice DService, the victim's mother opened a case in 2022 after her daughter told her that the pastor, who was her stepfather raped her repeatedly.

He raped the victim from 2019 when she was nine years-old to 2022. These incidents happened when her mother worked night shifts and stayed with the pastor. The victim told her father, who opened a case of rape in 2022.

The police arrested the pastor, and three years after his arrest, he was found guilty of two counts of rapew and one count of sexual assault. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the two rape counts and received a five-year sentence for sexual assault. The pastor will serve the sentences concurrently. He was also declared unfit to carry a licensed firearm.

Rapists sentenced in 2024 and 2025

• A man from Tshwane was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2024 for raping his six-year-old stepdaughter and trying to prevent her from reporting the case
• A Gauteng school teacher was given five life terms in September for raping his pupil on multiple occasions in October 2019
• A Gauteng deacon was convicted of raping his wife's 10-year-old niece in 2017 sentenced to life imprisonment in November
• A Kimberley court sentenced a man to 25 years in prison in February 2025 for raping a mentally-disabled patient while he was admitted for stab wounds
• A serial rapist was sentenced to over 400 years in prison in May for robbing and raping his victims in Mamewlodi, Pretoria between 2017 and 2022

South Africans react

Netizens commenting on the South African Police Service's Facebook post saluted the police officer who investigated the case for the work done to apprehend the rapist.

Hilton Barber asked:

"Now wouldn't it be nice if the sentences could be served consecutively and not concurrently?"

Mogomotsi Letebele said:

"Well done to the investigating officer and prosecutor."

"Job well done, Sergeant. We need more of you. There must be a way of dealing with the so-called cold cases."

Rams Mangope said:

"Excellent. Well done, Sergeant. You ensured that this sex pest imposter is going where his character belongs."

Khanyisile Maseko said:

"Give this man a rank."

Gqeberha gang rapists given life sentences

In a related article, Briefly News reported that two men from Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape were sentenced to life in prison for gang-raping a woman in the Walmer township. The incident happened in April 2022.

The two rapists atttaqcked her and raped herrepratedly at knife point until she esaped. she notified her sister, who alerted the commit. The suspects were quickly arrested.

Source: Briefly News