The long-awaited Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill was finally adopted by the National Assembly on Tuesday, several months after it was debated in the House.
The Bill’s primary purpose is to extend protection and treatment provision to victims of rape, the chairperson of the justice and constitutional development committee, Fatima Chohan-Kota, told MPs.
Among other things, it provides that any form of forced penetration, including with an object such as a bottle, and forced oral sex constitute rape. A victim of rape can be male or female.
The Bill further creates a new crime of trafficking people for sexual purposes and deals with ”a whole gamut of preventative measures”, she said.
It also establishes a register for sexual offenders, specifically aimed at paedophiles, who ”lure our children into the most obscene activities”.
Soliciting will in future also be a crime for both sex workers and clients, Chohan-Kota said.
The Bill was debated in the Assembly late last year, but an eleventh-hour objection by an NGO, alleging the measure should have been split and introduced in the National Council of Provinces, delayed its passing.
Following legal input, Parliament’s joint tagging mechanism eventually ruled the legislation was in order and did not need to be split.
The Bill now goes to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence. — Sapa