Definitions of rape vary, but under South African law it is forced sex between a man and a woman. If there is no penetration, it is termed "attempted rape". The term "sodomy" is used where the victim is male. Sex with a child under the age of 16 is seen as statutory rape even if the child gives consent.
Rape is one of South Africa's most serious violent crimes. It is and act of anger, power and control, whose victims are most commonly women and children. An average of 54,000 rapes are reported (a 1999 SA study indicated actual rapes to be around 1.7 million) in SA every year, of which 40% are children under the age of 12.
A recent South African study found that 40% of rape survivors became HIV positive without preventative anti-retroviral treatment (PEP - post exposure prophylaxis), which translates to approximately 15,000 rape survivors each year will become HIV positive, of which 7,000 will be children under the age of 12.
Rape is one of the most under-reported crimes in our society because of lack of support for rape survivors and a reporting process fraught with problems. Only an estimated 35% of rape victims report the rape.
Rape is a crime which places the largest burden of proof on the victim, not the accused.
Almost 70% of women and children are raped in their homes, by people they know.
According to the Institute for Security Studies, women are most likely to be raped by a spouse/partner or a friend.
75% of women are gang raped.
In the Greater Nelspruit, children under 12 are most at risk from rapists.
