The Principal accompanied Esethu and Fezeka home the following day. Mrs Mthembu brought out her best dishes and served up biscuits and coffee. Mrs Mukwena took a newspaper out of her handbag and laid it on the table. There was a brief column written about the march below the headline: ‘Ligugu Girls’ Buddy Group Marches for Safety’.

“I won’t be staying long. I wanted to offer my appreciation to you for raising such an intelligent daughter. She risked everything to protect a fellow schoolmate, and her actions have paid off,” the Principal said, as she settled onto the sofa. “The coach has been suspended and is awaiting his disciplinary hearing. With all the evidence and witnesses, he’ll probably never be permitted to teach again. As for the actions of the girls’ group – I was pleased to see a patrol car circle the school for once.”

“Hai that man stirred up enough trouble for our children, but at least they will be safer,” Mrs Mthembu said.

“Very true.” The Principal fished in her handbag and passed Fezeka her phone. “You can have your phone back. We have taken the video as evidence and I would hate to keep it any longer, in case they need to contact you about your sister. I hope they find her really soon.”

“Me too.” Fezeka accepted it with a nod.

“Well I have to leave.” The Principal reached for two biscuits as she stood, saying, “Thank you once again.”

Mrs Mthembu escorted her to the door and they exchanged simple pleasantries before she left. It wasn’t long afterwards that there was a knock on the door. Mrs Mthembu looked at the girls and frowned before she went to open it. To their surprise, May Sibiya, the coach’s wife, stood at the door.

“Mrs Sibiya!” Esethu’s mother gasped.

Mrs Sibiya was wearing her nurse’s uniform, and nervously clutching her handbag. Following a brief moment of hesitation, she was welcomed into the house.

“Zanele was just brought into the hospital.” Mrs Sibiya didn’t wait for a response, and rushed on: “She was found by herders in a field close to the next town. She was badly beaten, tied up, perhaps raped and left for dead. She is alive though. As soon as I found out, I rushed over here.”

“Ow my–” Fezeka clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

“Haibo May!” Mrs Mthembu exclaimed. “That girl has been missing for days. We even suspected–”

“My husband,” May cut in. “I know. I heard about the march yesterday and Sibiya has been suspended. He didn’t tell me the truth about his suspension but I know about everything. Even about his affair with Zanele,” she said sorrowfully.

“But how?” Esethu spoke up for the first time.

“I had my suspicions long before I heard the first rumours of their affair. So I started following my husband, and discovered that it was true. It wasn’t the first time he had been unfaithful … or targeted young girls. And, he even turned Thabiso into a monster and got him arrested for statutory rape.” May took a deep breath.

“Anyway, I decided that I had had enough. I was still thinking of a way to confront my husband when Zanele walked into the hospital last week to get contraceptives. I was the nurse to help her but she didn’t know who I was. She looked so young that it scared me, but I guess she was thinking about her future. I had to test her for HIV first. It came back positive. She was so devastated.”

“My Lord!” Mrs Mthembu whispered.

“She confessed that she got it from an older man but she wouldn’t say his name. She mentioned that she was too scared to even confront him, because he was abusive.”

Mrs Sibiya tried to blink away the tears. “When she left, I tested myself. He has infected me too. I don’t want to think about how many people he gave it to. I couldn’t even speak to him that night and he disappeared the next day. Then I heard that Zanele was missing and … and … I just knew.”

A vibration came from May’s bag. She dug her phone out and excused herself to the kitchen to answer it. Shock and tension hung in the living room air.

“I have to get home. Hlumelo just called to let me know that his father came home drunk and he doesn’t want to be alone with him,” May reported when she returned. “Fezeka, I will take you to see your sister tomorrow. Thank you for allowing me into your home maMthembu.”

As soon as Esethu’s mother had escorted May out of the door, she clapped her hands in disbelief. The girls were too shaken to speak.

***

Tell us: Do you think that older men having affairs with young women like this has been ‘normalised’ in South Africa. If so, what do you think about it?