Eleven women and eleven girls were raped in Mpumalanga over the weekend, police said on Tuesday.
Superintendent Leonard Hlathi said nine minors were raped in Siyabusa and four suspects were arrested. In one incident a 40-year-old man was caught in the act of raping a six-year-old girl. He was arrested.
In two other incidents a man threatened an eight-year-old girl and her friends with a knife and gun in Kwamhlanga. He raped her after chasing her friends away.
In Witbank a 11-year-old girl was gang raped. One of her attackers apparently promised the child R100. After the ordeal he bought the victim a beer and a cigarette.
Eleven cases of rape cases against women were reported in different parts of Mpumalanga and five suspects were arrested.
Police requested members of the public to look after children and warned women not to walk in secluded areas, stay late in taverns, open doors to strangers or walk with them, or to accept blind dates.
Hlathi said President Thabo Mbeki’s call for violence against women and children to come to an end seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. – Sapa