Child Rape in South Africa Eileen Meier, MPH, JD, MPH, RN Pediatr Nurs. 2002;28(5)
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(more articles on Baby Rapes from 2010 up to 2013 are also located below this article
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Introduction 2002 report: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/444213
Rape, including child rape, is increasing at shocking rates in South Africa. Sexual violence against children, including the raping of infants, has increased 400% over the past decade (Dempster, 2002).
According to a report by BBC news, a female born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped in her lifetime than learning how to read (Dempster, 2002).
When South Africa became a democracy in 1994, there were already 18,801 cases of rape per year, but by 2001 there were 24,892 (Dempster, 2002).
Numbers vary by different institutions, but are nevertheless extremely troubling.
The Institute of Race Relations found that more than 52,000 rapes were reported in 2000, and 40% of the victims were under age 18 (du Venage, 2002).
The University of South Africa reports that 1 million women and children are raped there each year ( South Africa: Focus on the Virgin Myth, 2002).
High Profile Baby Rapes
A number of high profile baby rapes since 2001 (including the fact that they required extensive reconstructive surgery to rebuild urinary, genital, abdominal, or tracheal systems) increased the need to address the problem socially and legally.
In 2001, a 9-month-old baby was raped by six men, aged between 24 and 66, after the infant had been left unattended by her teenage mother. A 4-year-old girl died after being raped by her father. A 14-month-old girl was raped by her two uncles. In February 2002, an 8-month-old infant was reportedly gang raped by four men. One has been charged (McGreal, 2001). The infant has required extensive reconstructive surgery. The 8-month-old infant's injuries were so extensive, increased attention on prosecution has occurred.
Schools are Inadequate and Violent
Now that apartheid is dismantled, teachers and the education system have struggled to refocus resources on actual education and qualified teachers. The Bantu Education Act and its system provided only rudimentary skills for menial jobs, not professions. The generation responsible for teaching children now is ill prepared. In addition, AIDS is killing teachers. AIDS is beginning to kill massive numbers of educated professionals. In a recent Cape Times article, discipline and AIDS were cited as the biggest threat to education in South Africa (Peer, 2002).
RAPE GANGS
Gangs are growing in South Africa and intimidate teachers, disrupt lessons, and rape at will. According to a Human Rights Watch assessment, "Gangs... make schools places where drugs, thugs, and weapons can move as freely through the gates as people," and "Schools become territorial prizes... courses are not conducted according to any regular schedule" ( Scared at School, 2001). The reorganization of schools after the apartheid system has created a chronic shortage of classrooms and teaching materials, high student-teacher ratios, and no access to proper sanitation with nearly half of the schools using pit latrines, which are inadequate in number. Thirteen percent of schools have no sanitation facilities and 56% have no electricity ( Scared at School, 2001). Many girls are raped in bathrooms and latrines in schools, many by other classmates and 40% by teachers ( Scared at School, 2001).
Police and Legal System
In many instances, there are not enough police in the townships to cope with the growing numbers of murder, rape, and robbery. Police have had incidents where a woman or girl was being held and repeatedly raped by gangs in a township, but they didn't have enough manpower to go in to stop or overpower the number of men
(Lydia Richards, Professor, University of Capetown School of Nursing, personal communication, June 7, 2002).
Townships Breed Violence and Social Breakdown
A social worker at Red Cross Children's Hospital in Capetown, a hospital that treats the largest number of child rapes, described the geographical outlay and problems in townships that may contribute to child rape
(Carla Brown, Chief Social Worker for Child Rape Victims, Red Cross Children's Hospital, Capetown, personal communication, June 11, 2002).
Many areas lack running water and electricity, and outhouses are used by a large number of individuals. Living spaces may be a 10 x 8 room where a large number of individuals live (10 or more) - parents, children, grandparents, uncles, or friends all live in one cramped space. People must undress, bathe, and sleep in extremely small areas without partitions. There are no private areas for parents to have sexual relations and members of the family may sleep next to children on the floor - grandfathers or uncles sleeping next to small children. Children going to outhouses late in the evening may be sent alone and exposed to possible rape or violence. Townships have areas of tall grasses, garbage, and discarded junk. Girls walking to school have been raped in these areas because of lack of visibility from the outside world. Gang initiation is beginning to consist of child rape, including the rape of young boys.
Individuals who are not lucky enough to have a job are left with other family members, sometimes other children or other male relatives who rape these children. There is an increasing number of children orphaned due to the death of their parents from AIDS. These children are left with other young caregivers, exposing them to rape and violence.
Reasons for Rape
Various cultural beliefs in South Africa regarding rape hinder the problem of decreasing and reporting rape. It is difficult to impossible for a woman to say no to sex. Many girls and women believe that if they know the boy or it is a boyfriend who rapes them, they cannot say no to sex, even forcible sex. Many men believe they are entitled to sex or even believe that women enjoy being raped. In a study done in the Gauteng area, 8 in 10 men believed women were responsible for causing sexual violence and 3 in 10 "asked for it" ( Scared at School, 2001).
JACKROLLING - RAPE GANGS
Approximately 50% of male youth believed no to sex meant yes, and nearly one third said forcing sex on someone they knew was not sexual violence ( Scared at School, 2001).
A majority of men thought "jack rolling" ("recreational" gang rape) was bad, but boys between the ages of 15 and 19 thought it was "good" or "just a game" ( Scared at School, 2001).
RAPING OF INFANTS AND CHILDREN DUE TO TRIBAL BELIEFS:
The raping of infants and/or children may also be due to the belief that sex with a child or baby will cure AIDS. Virginity testing is growing and many times occurs in school. Girls must lie on their backs with their pants and underwear off and legs in the air, preferably on a sloped floor
( IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly, 2001).
A survey in East London, South Africa, by the University of South Africa found that 18% of 498 workers believed that sex with a virgin could cure AIDS (South Africa: Virgins, victims..., 2002).
In Gauteng, 32% of those interviewed believed this myth. Some discount this belief for the reason behind rape, but Barbara Kenyon, director of the Greater Nelspruit Rape Intervention Project in the Northern Province of South Africa, has found in follow-up visits that many children become HIV positive and that children who are raped are getting younger and younger.
Some analysts have stated that desperate people are desperate for a cure. Money for AIDS drugs is essentially unavailable despite the victory by the South African government last year against pharmaceutical companies to buy AIDS-treatment drugs at a cheaper price.
Many individuals work without formal work contracts and benefits. The median income for Blacks and mixed race can be as low as $300/year, and the cost for AIDS drugs average $40 to $50 per month, clearly out of reach for a large majority of the population. Payment for health care in hospitals or care centers is means-based.
AIDS Role
Africa is home to 70% of the adults and 80% of the children living with HIV in the world (Avert, 2002). South Africa has the largest population of individuals in Africa infected with HIV. More than 4.8 million people there have AIDS; 250,000 died from AIDS in 1999; and by the year 2015, the population loss of AIDS-related deaths in South Africa will be 4.4 million (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2002).
By the year 2010, HIV prevalence could reach 25%, and by 2008, 1.6 million children will be orphaned by AIDS, increasing the number of children who are at risk for no caregivers, rape, sex work, or life on the street (CDC, 2002). At least 5.7 million children in South Africa could lose one or both parents from HIV/AIDS by 2015 unless there are major interventions ( IRIN Daily News Alert, 2002). In African countries where at least 15% of adults are infected, AIDS will claim approximately one third of today's 15-year-olds ( HIV & AIDS in Africa, 2002). Teachers are increasingly dying in Africa from AIDS. Economically, AIDS will continue to impact upon the very root of why violence and sexual violence could increase due to unemployment and the break down of the social fabric. AIDS will reduce economic impact by 0.3-0.4% annually in South Africa, and by the year 2010, AIDS will reduce South Africa's gross domestic product by 17% and eliminate $20 billion of the country's economy (Avert, 2002).
There continues to be debate in South Africa among members of Parliament, including President Thabo Mbeki and other leaders as to whether HIV causes AIDS and whether drugs will help.
President Mbeki has restricted the use of AIDS drugs in hospitals on the grounds of safety. Cost also restricts treatment drugs such as AZT, but Nevirapine (reduces mother-child transmission) has been tested in 18 pilots (Seindells, 2002). An estimated 50% to 70% of all tuberculosis patients are infected with HIV.
For children (Blacks and mixed race who are not economically sound) who are infected with HIV, no medicines are available due to cost. In Red Cross Children's Hospital, pneumocystis carnae pneumonia (PCP) is treated with Bactrim®. Few if any drugs are available for treating Karposis' Sarcoma (leaving parents with tremendously disfigured infants until they die) and cytomegolarovirus (CMV), CMV retinitis, or CMV pneumonia.
Prosecution of Rape Cases and New Health Programs
Many families, women, or girls are reluctant to report rape or prosecute the rapist. If a woman's husband is raping children in the household, she may be reluctant to go to the police if he is the only source of income. Prosecution of rape crimes has been slow as well. The government and legal system came under tremendous scrutiny with the gang rape of a 9-month-old girl in the Northern Cape in October 2001.
Six men were arrested for the crime but released after lack of evidence could connect them to the crime. The child suffered extensive internal injuries and required a colostomy. Protesters called for the execution or castration of child rapists after the incident. (South Africa outlawed the death penalty in 1995.)
Community lynching of rapists has started to occur in townships. In addition, discussions to change the legal definition of rape has occurred. The current legal definition would not apply to the raping of boys (or men) or rape of a girl or boy with an object. Occasionally girls are raped by the insertion of objects into their vagina. The rape of a boy (or man) is handled under a different legal definition as an indecent act.
Program for Women and Girls
In 1999, the government established approximately two dozen courts specifically to handle sexual offenses. The Bureau's current project, the Thuthuzela Care Centre, in cooperation with the Vera Institute in New York City helps the justice system treat rape survivors (girls 14 and older) with respect and handle criminal cases more effectively. The project's goal is to improve police investigations, collection of evidence, and prosecution. The project is a result of a small study in Cape Flats that showed women and girl's treatment after rape led to poor investigations and unsuccessful prosecutions. Before the center, women or girls waited an average of 3-4 hours in police stations repeating their stories. Medical exams were delayed hours or days, and evidence was routinely lost. Girls and women were rarely tested for HIV, and many women walked home alone from the hospital. Girls or women did not know of court hearing schedules, and many stopped case prosecution.
The Centre is located in Jooste Hospital in Manenberg near Cape Flats and Mitchell's Plain (Capetown townships). A second care center opened in July 2001 in Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape. The Centre sees women and girls as young as 14. The matron of the center reports the Centre sees approximately 30 rapes per month in children age 14-17 (in addition to women). Many of these rapes occur in schools (Carla Brown, Chief Social Worker for Child Rape Victims, Red Cross Children's Hospital, Capetown, personal communication, June 11, 2002). They are perpetrated by boys (some as young as 10), and approximately 40% of the rapes are perpetrated by teachers. Recently, Parliament Education Committee Chair Shepard Mayatula has advocated for publicly "naming and shaming" teachers who rape students (Terreblanche, 2002).
After a rape occurs, the police bring the woman or girl to the Centre. A doctor collects evidence using DNA analysis kits. Only visual detection of evidence is used, as a colposcopy machine is unavailable due to cost (and would require additional training). If a woman or girl appears at the center within 72 hours after the rape, she is offered AZT and tested for HIV and sexually-transmitted diseases. A doctor may be called away during the exam and return a number of times. The woman or girl can change into clean clothes and eat something after the examination. A special prosecutor handles all rape cases at the Thuthuzela Care Centre. This prosecutor is experienced in rape cases as well as child rape. Despite this, girls, women, and families of infants or children who have been raped are many times reluctant to go through with criminal prosecution due to threats of violence, murder, and prior incidents of family homes being burned in retaliation for reporting rapes to the police and judicial system (Pauline Berzi, Matron Nurse, Thuthuzela Care Centre, Mitchell's Plain, South Africa, personal communication, June 7, 2002).
Infants and Children
For children below age 14 and those requiring reconstructive surgery, many go to the Red Cross Children's Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Capetown and for the Western Cape area. In 1995, the social worker responsible for child rape victims saw an average of 100 child rapes per month. It has slowly decreased to approximately 25 per month, but this number is deceiving (Carla Brown, Chief Social Worker for Child Rape Victims, Red Cross Children's Hospital, Capetown, personal communication, June 11, 2002). Most child rapes are now seen in primary care centers in the community where reporting is still haphazard. The incidence may still be 100 or more a month. The number of child rapes and rapes in South Africa was so embarrassing that the government placed a moratorium on government crime statistics in 2001 stating that they needed "reassessment" ( Scared at School, 2001).
If a child is seen within 72 hours after the rape at Red Cross Hospital, the child is started on AZT. Parent(s) are counseled on safety and psychological effects. The child is placed initially in the intensive care unit (ICU) because heightened security for the child and family can be provided in the ICU if retaliation by the perpetrator takes place. Many parents are reluctant to continue the prosecution due to long delays and fears of "reliving" the attack. Dolls are used in Red Cross Hospital and court to demonstrate abuse, although many children have never seen a doll and have been initially afraid of dolls (Carla Brown, Chief Social Worker for Child Rape Victims, Red Cross Children's Hospital, Capetown, personal communication, June 11, 2002). Social workers work with caregivers to increase the safety of these children so further abuse does not take place.
Prosecution of Child and Infant Rapes
If a parent continues with the prosecution, the government has developed the Sexual Offenses and Community Affairs Unit. In Capetown, both women from the Thuthuzela Centre and child rape cases are held in a special section for security. Child-friendly rooms in the Capetown courts were developed with the assistance of Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (RAPCAN), a South African child abuse non-profit group that has done community education and media campaigns on child abuse. Children are taken to a special room where an "intermediary" assists the child and a closed circuit video monitor is placed for viewing in the courtroom (Special Rape Prosecutor, Capetown, personal communication, June 7, 2002). There is also security for the child in this room. The child can be seen in the courtroom but cannot see the alleged perpetrator. This differs from the American system where a child may be forced to "face" the accused (Althea Handy, Division Chief Sex Offense Division of State's Attorney's Office for Baltimore City, personal communication, June 5, 2002.). The intermediary sits next to the child and assists him or her in translation of languages and informs the court if the child needs a break for the toilet, food, or rest. Because there are so many cases waiting to be heard, the government recently put out a call to hire more prosecutors for child rape cases.
Sexual-assault nurse examiners (SANE) are nonexistent in South Africa but could provide a means to increase health care and collection of evidence for a wider section of the population, particularly in rural areas. Generally, nurses see children for immunizations or illnesses in rural areas or primary care settings. The South African government is trying to increase prosecution of rape cases but already has a backlog of 1-2 years. With an increasing number of children left without parents due to AIDS, cultural myths regarding rape, and economic downturns, the violence of child rape will continue to take its toll.
2010 article: South Africa's shame: the rise of child rape
By Rachel Shields Sunday 16 May 2010
Tears stream down 11-year-old Ntombizanele's face and drip on to the coarse blue wool of her school uniform. She looks down at the dirt floor of the corrugated iron shack which she shares with her mother and four siblings, and begins to speak.
"I tried to get away, and begged them to leave me alone," she said, her voice wobbling. "He dragged me to the floor and did dirty things to me. I tried to get away, but I'd started bleeding. I was so scared."
Raped by two local teenagers, Ntombi suffered physical and mental wounds that were exacerbated by the treatment she received from the police and neighbours. Ostracised by friends in the large South African city of Port Elizabeth, many of whom believe that she should have kept quiet about the incident, Ntombi has since been threatened with further violence by her attackers, who were released on bail by police.
"One of them said he's going to murder me," she said, wrapping her skinny arms around herself. "It hurts so much when I see them."
While Ntombi's story is disturbing, in South Africa it is also commonplace. The country has the world's highest incidence of rape; a girl born there today has a one in three chance of finishing school, and a one in two chance of being raped. The stories behind these statistics are explored in the documentary Dispatches: The Lost Girls of South Africa, to be screened next Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4.
Like a third of the 200,000 children who are raped in South Africa every year, Fuzeka, 12, was attacked by a close relative. Staring straight ahead, she recounts how her father indecently assaulted her, and told her that when he slept with her he would use a condom as he is HIV positive.
"I can't believe my father wants to sleep with me," said Fuzeka, close to tears. "I stay awake to be sure that he doesn't come into my room."
Her mother, her gaunt face a sign of Aids, also weeps as she recounts her husband's justification: "My child cannot sleep with other men until I have slept with her first."
In order to get away from her father, Fuzeka's mother moved her and her younger sister into a tiny wooden shack with no electricity, running water nor toilet. Like eight million South Africans, they are forced to live in a crowded, informal settlement. Some experts believe that such living conditions – with children sharing rooms and beds with adults – and high levels of drug and alcohol use are two factors facilitating the sexual abuse. Social attitudes towards sex are also thought to contribute to the high incidence of rape.
"For many men, sex is an entitlement, they've de-linked it from love and pro-creation; it has become about one's own gratification," said Joan van Niekerk, a manager for Childline South Africa. The charity says that 80 per cent of the rape cases it deals with involve victims under 13. "We need programmes for boys which celebrate masculinity from a point of view of protecting, caring, and managing appetites."
A 2009 survey by the country's Medical Research Council found that one in four men admits to raping someone; while 62 per cent of boys over 11 believe that forcing someone to have sex is not an act of violence, with a third believing that girls enjoy rape.
The government – led by President Jacob Zuma, who was tried for rape in 2006 – has been criticised for not tackling the problem and police and judicial failings have been highlighted.
But for many victims, worries that their rapist will go unpunished are secondary to a much bigger fear: that they may have contracted HIV. South Africa has the highest number of people infected with the virus in the world – 5.7 million people have HIV or Aids.
The eyes of the world will be on South Africa next month, when more than 350,000 football fans will arrive for the World Cup. Many charity workers fear that this will make children even more vulnerable to sexual violence and a national campaign by Unicef will try to raise awareness of the issue.
Deborah Shipley, the director of the Dispatches documentary, said that the girls who took part were also hoping to highlight the issue: "They felt very strongly that it is an outrage which should be stopped, and by talking about it they could help."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/south-africas-shame-the-rise-of-child-rape-1974578.html
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South Africa: “One Child Raped Every Three Minutes, Three Children Murdered Each Day.”
December 7, 2013 by Daniel Greenfield - Liberals took credit for defeating Apartheid, took their bows and moved on ignoring the mess they left behind. Here’s a letter from South Africa. The real South Africa, not the one where Morgan Freeman plays Mandela and everyone lives happily ever after.
South Africa is in a serious moral crisis. We are a violent society disintegrating by the day. Ghastly murders are committed daily.
We have become delusional. Forgetting that life is absolutely intrinsic and inviolable. Our country is awash with demonic monsters in human garb, savages fit only for the wild, and satanic beasts ill-equipped for civil society.
Is this the democracy we fought so hard for? One child raped every three minutes, three children murdered each day. We are sliding towards the edge of the abyss and our people are crying out for sanity to prevail.
Maybe all the Anti-Apartheid campaigners have some suggestions? Surely a boycott might help. I bet it would make the child rapists who are raping a child every 3 minutes rethink their ways?
No? They’re understandably busy. The world is full of problems. Rain forests are being chopped down, whales are choking on packets of crackers and somebody just droned a terrorist.
There’s plenty of things to be outraged about. And if you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention. And if you’re not paying attention, you can always be outraged.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/south-africa-one-child-raped-every-three-minutes-three-children-murdered-each-day/
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