The justice system is seen as unfair to people laying a charge of rape, a survey has found.
This perception was strongest in the coloured community, with black people the least critical, said Research Surveys, which conducted the study as part of ongoing research into social and political issues.
It was also a belief held mainly by women, but not markedly so, the survey found in interviews with 2 000 South Africans in seven major metropolitan areas in April.
However, there were considerable differences by area, with injustice seen mostly by people in Cape Town and the Eastern Cape, followed by Bloemfontein, Gauteng and Durban.
While rape-trial law was changing to give accusers more rights and protection, levels of unhappiness were ”very high and very serious”, the report noted.
”It will take a long time to change this perception, very likely preventing many rape victims from laying a rape charge.”
Most men and women surveyed felt courts should not ask rape accusers about their sexual history.
This opinion was again most strongly held by coloureds and most strongly felt in the Eastern Cape, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Gauteng.
Asked whether sex with a virgin would cure Aids, an ”alarming” 5% of those surveyed agreed, also particularly in the coloured community.
”That 5% agree with this statement may seem low at first, but it represents [about] 550 000 adults just in the metropolitan areas alone who have this disastrously mistaken belief,” the survey commented.
A third of the respondents thought women wearing revealing clothes were asking to be raped, mainly Indians and Asians, followed by blacks, coloureds and whites, and mainly men.
The belief was strongest in Durban and Bloemfontein, then Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
”These are concerning findings given that people involved in counselling and in rape prevention and education know that rape is about power rather than sex,” said Research Surveys. — Sapa