The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) in the Free State on Thursday expressed its shock at the number of rapes reported in the province.
”We are extremely concerned at the apparent unabated stream of cases of rape reported in the Free State,” Sidwell Gavu, provincial ACDP chairperson, said in a statement.
Gavu said almost 4 000 cases of rape are reported in the Free State per year.
He was reacting to a report that two minors had been arrested in connection with the rape of a 15-year-old girl on a farm near Warden this week.
”In the space of less than two years, cases have been reported where women as old as 103 and babies of only three months old have been raped in this province. This is a crying shame.”
Gavu said in many murder cases in the province the victim is also raped, and these statistics are then reflected in murder and not rape statistics.
He said many rape cases could probably be traced back to the false belief that sex with a virgin would cure Aids. ”The irony is that this only accelerates the spreading of the problem.” — Sapa