There’s a little town called Odendaalsrus, tucked away in the north-western corner of Free State, that is getting something of a bad name for sexual crimes involving minors and miners. I’m going to avoid any awful puns and lay bare the bones as there isn’t much humour to be found in either incident.

Five men have been arrested in near Odendaalsrus for kidnapping two girls and keeping them as sex slaves. This from IOL:

The girls, aged 12 and 14, were released on February 17 and told police they had been kept as sex slaves in a shack behind a house…

The five men, aged between 22 and 25, called themselves “300” and had tattooed the number on the girls.

Information on the investigation is scarce as the suspects are still due to appear in court on charges of kidnapping and statutory rape.

The more eagle-eyed readers out there might recognise the name Odendaalsrus from a sex saga that came to be known as the ‘Free State Lolitas‘. Sure, it was way back in 1983, but stories of older men tempting young girls (some as young as 11) with cigarettes and alcohol aren’t exactly easily forgotten. TimesLive reports:

[Some girls] didn’t need enticing and would proposition older men.

The town’s Dominee blamed video movies for the scandal.

“To my mind, video movies have played a larger role in corrupting the youth”.

Video movies? That’s 1983 South Africa for you right there. Odendaalsrus, take a serious look at yourselves, this needs to stop now.

[sources:iol&timeslive]