Rape is a largely risk-free activity in South Africa, says a shock internal government study in the possession of the Mail & Guardian.
The study, conducted by an interdepartmental management team tasked with developing an anti-rape strategy, finds that only 7,7% of reported rapes in 2000 resulted in convictions.
The findings reveal that the conviction rate in rape cases declined by 4% between 1999 and 2000 after growing at 3% between 1996 and 1998.
The study reveals that a horrifying 40% of all reported rapes in South Africa are child rapes. Out of a total of 52 975 rapes reported in 2000, 21 630 were cases reported by children under 18. Yet only 8,9% of the child rape cases resulted in convictions. There were convictions in 6,8% of adult rape cases, says the report.
It can take up to 18 months for a rape case to be finalised in South Africa. The study also revealed that in 30% of the total reported rape cases in 2000, the perpetrator could not be traced. Between 1996 and 1998 the number has grown at 10% a year and at 11% between 1999 and 2000. KwaZulu-Natal recorded 43% of cases under the ”untraced” category.
In 2000 Mpumalanga recorded the lowest conviction rate among all nine provinces of only 3% in child rape cases and 4% in adult rape.
Gauteng fared no better in the same year with a mere 7% conviction rate in child rape cases and 4,9% in adult rape cases.
The study deals with rape statistics from 1996 to 2000. The task team that compiled the study and the report was set up in March 2000 by the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, the departments of health, safety and security and social development, following a Cabinet directive to develop a communication strategy and link it to an initiative to reduce rape. The team pointed out that the rape problem could not be addressed in isolation from the criminal justice system and had to be considered in relation to victim support and prevention. So it went about analysing the current status of rape in the country, choices to be made and implementation of the strategy. The team suggests that a ”longer-term, sustainable, anti-rape strategy can only become a reality once the criminal justice system as a whole improves”.
The study reveals large numbers of cases are still being withdrawn, despite the fact that police investigators are under instructions not to do so. It points out that 43% of the cases reported in 2000 were withdrawn, either before court or in court.
Research by the Crime Information Analysis Centre showed that 46% of the withdrawals were at the request of the victim, followed by 36% by the director of public prosecutions and 14% by the police.
Nineteen percent of the withdrawals were either because the parties involved had reconciled or sorted the matter out among themselves. In 17% of the cases the victim was not found and in 15% contradictory or inconclusive evidence had led to the withdrawal of the charges. Seven percent of the withdrawals were as a result of false complaints by victims.
The centre’s docket analysis, based on selected policing areas with a high frequency of rape, indicated that in more than 70% of the rape cases the parties were known to each other.
The report also says it is widely acknowledged that the proportion of rapes reported at police stations is small compared to the number of rapes committed in society, which is often because of the lack of confidence in the criminal justice system.
The task team attempted to assess the route of a rape victim who goes to a police station to report a rape. The victims, in many cases, give their statements to officers who are often not trained to understand offences of this nature. Furthermore, the environment often does not meet the victim’s need for privacy and empathy. The study found that investigating officers are not always available at police stations where a rape is reported and a woman or child might have to wait three to four hours before meeting an investigating officer.
Almost 80% of the 166 role players in the criminal justice system from the East Rand, Cape Town and Soweto complained of poorly trained staff, no budget for overtime and a lack of resources, especially the availability of vehicles.
Prosecutors, social workers and medical practitioners across the board cited a need for additional human resources with required expertise. A long backlog of cases in courts and lack of time to consult with witnesses were cited as other problems.
The series of interviews also revealed an image problem for officers who work on rape cases. The child protection unit in police jargon is referred to as the ”nappy squad”. Although the term was not meant to be degrading, some felt it was, in spite of the actual status of the members of the unit.
The task team concluded that the success of the anti- rape strategy depends on the achievement of several goals, like increasing the rate of the reporting of rape, improving the effectiveness of victim support programmes and improving the effectiveness of the response of the criminal justice system to rape cases.