ALMOST one third of South African children had been subjected to
sexual abuse before the age of 18, the SA Human Rights Commission’s
(SAHRC) report on sexual violence against children estimated.
Figures submitted indicated that 20% of females and 13%
of males were reportedly abused yearly.
In 1995 a Human Rights Watch investigation revealed that sexual
and domestic violence was very difficult to estimate because of the
lack of accurate police statistics.
It said: ”But what is clear is that South African women are
living in one of the most violent countries in the world and on a
daily basis South African girls of every race and economic class
encounter sexual violence and harassment which impedes their right
to education.”
Seventy-seven percent of those who submitted information to the
study reported that sexual violence was ”very common.”
A survey completed in 1998 showed that 76% of those
interviewed admitted to having been raped, and in some cases had
been raped several times.
In 60% of the cases the victim knew the perpetrator, and
54% of the perpetrators were family members. Only 44%
of the sexual assaults were committed by strangers.
The moratorium on police statistics in 1999 also made it
difficult to ascertain the ongoing prevalence of the crimes
committed against women and children. This moratorium had been
subsequently lifted. – Sapa