Lesotho national gets 40 years for raping an 18-year-old three times near Sterkspruit
Tisetso Maoeng, 34, was sentenced in the Sterkspruit Regional Court for three counts of rape and a contravention of the Immigration Act after a trial in which the court rejected his claim that the encounters were consensual.
A 34-year-old Lesotho national has been sentenced to an effective 40 years in prison by the Sterkspruit Regional Court in the Eastern Cape for raping an 18-year-old woman three times and for contravening the Immigration Act.
Tisetso Maoeng was sentenced on three counts of rape and one count under the Immigration Act, the National Prosecuting Authority’s Eastern Cape spokesperson, Luxolo Tyali, said. The court imposed one year’s direct imprisonment on the immigration count and 20 years on each of the three rape counts, ordering portions to run concurrently for an effective 40 years.
As IOL reported on 13 October, the case relates to an incident on 24 September 2025 near Palmietfontein. The Enquirer is publishing its own account of the facts, the sentence and what the case says about how sexual violence cases are handled in the rural Eastern Cape.
The victim had been sent by her grandmother to a local spaza shop when she heard someone greeting her from behind. Tyali said she ignored the voice, but a man she did not know caught up with her and asked for her cellphone number. When she told him she did not have a cellphone and rejected his advances, he became aggressive.
Maoeng grabbed her, attempted to kiss her, and despite her resistance and cries for help, overpowered and raped her in broad daylight in an open field. “Tragically, no one came to her assistance,” Tyali said. The perpetrator then forced her to his house, where he told her he intended to marry her and raped her repeatedly.
The following morning, the teenager persuaded him to let her go home by promising to return later that night. Maoeng walked part of the way with her before turning back. When she reached home she reported what had happened to her aunt, who took her to a clinic and helped her lay a charge with the police.
She directed police to Maoeng’s residence, where he was arrested and charged with three counts of rape and a contravention of the Immigration Act.
During the trial, the State presented evidence through the victim, her aunt as first report witness, and a medical report recording findings relevant to the assault. Maoeng pleaded not guilty and claimed the sexual encounters were consensual. The court found his version riddled with contradictions and rejected it as false beyond a reasonable doubt.
In aggravation of sentence, Regional Court Prosecutor Anele Magibile argued that the incidence of rape has reached alarming proportions and that courts have a duty to protect vulnerable people through appropriate sentences. The court agreed.
Welcoming the sentence, the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Eastern Cape Division, Advocate Samkelo Mtwana, commended the prosecution team and law enforcement authorities for their professionalism and diligence. “This sentence demonstrates the courts’ unwavering commitment to protecting women and ensuring that perpetrators of sexual violence are held fully accountable for their actions,” Mtwana said. “We remain steadfast in our efforts to combat gender-based violence and secure justice for victims.”
Tyali said the NPA reiterates its commitment to the relentless prosecution of crimes against women and all vulnerable persons, ensuring that justice is pursued without fear, favour or prejudice.
The sentence will be noted by communities across the Sterkspruit area, where the case has travelled by word of mouth since the arrest. Rape survivors in rural districts often face long distances to the nearest clinic and police station, and the first report to a family member is frequently what sets a case in motion. In this case, the aunt’s decision to take the teenager to a clinic and then to the police produced the medical evidence and the docket that the court relied on.
The Immigration Act count reflects that Maoeng was in the country without lawful status at the time of the offence. The court treated the immigration contravention as a separate count and sentenced him to one year on it, to run alongside the rape sentence. Home Affairs has not said whether he will be removed from South Africa at the end of his term, and the NPA did not address that question.
The Enquirer will seek comment from the Department of Home Affairs on the immigration status of the accused and the process that applies when a foreign national is sentenced in a South African court. We will also ask the NPA whether it intends to publish the case as part of its gender-based violence reporting, given the sentence’s length and the fact that the victim was a teenager.
For now, the record shows a young woman who was attacked on her way to a spaza shop, who reported it the next morning, and who identified the man who did it. The court believed her. He will serve an effective 40 years.
