The police on Saturday disputed the Guinness Book of Records and Interpol allegations that South Africa is the country with the highest rate of rapes, many of them against children.
Assistant Commissioner Joseph Ngobane in a statement issued in Pretoria took issue with remarks made on Friday by Carol Bower of Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (Rapcan) who told a conference in Cape Town:
”There are about 50 000 reported cases every year in South Africa, 50% of which are against children.”
Commissioner Ngobeni said: ”The official police statistics show that not 50% but 41% of rape victims are under the age of 18 and the increasing number of reports of rape was a tribute to greater public trust in the police services in that more women were coming forward to report such cases.”
Replying to Bower’s assertion that the country featured in the Guinness Book of Records as having the highest number of rapes in the world, Ngobeni said in his statement: ”It is unlikely to be the case because it is simply not true. It is anyway impossible to compare our crime figures with the rest of the world — some
countries don’t even release crime figures.”
Ngobeni said anyone interested to know the true facts about rape and other crimes should consult the police web site: www.saps.gov.za before ”publishing figures that mislead the public and cause unnecessary fear in the minds of visitors and investors.” – Sapa