Sexual violence in South Africa

Official police statistics South Africa's Police Service (SAPS) releases the country's crime statistics. The crime category "sexual offences" includes a wide range of sexual offences, including rape, sexual assault, incest, bestiality, flashing, and other crimes. SAPS releases statistics on reported rapes every quarter, as well as an annual report (financial year, April thru March each year). The figures in the following table include reported rapes only. And while women's groups in South Africa estimated that (as of 2001) a woman was raped every 26 seconds, the South African police estimates that a woman is raped every 36 seconds. The comprehensive study 'Rape in South Africa' in 2000 indicated that 2.1% of women aged 16 years or older across population groups reported that they had been sexually abused at least once between the beginning of 1993 and March 1998, results which seem to conflict starkly with the MRC survey results. Similarly, the South African demographic and health survey of 1998 gave results of rape prevalence at 4.0% of all women aged between 15 and 49 years in the sampled households (a survey also performed by the Medical Research Council and Department of Health). The country has some of the highest incidences of child and baby rape in the world, with more than 67,000 cases of rape and sexual assaults against children reported in 2000, with welfare groups believing that unreported incidents could be up to 10 times higher. Violence against the LGBT community 48% of sexual and gender minorities in South Africa have experienced sexual violence. This is according to the 2019 study titled 'Are we doing alright? Realities of Violence, Mental Health, and Access to Healthcare Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression in South Africa.' The study also found that the majority of the violence against LGBTI people in South Africa was linked to homophobia, noting that "more than half of all participants (61%), and two out of three Black participants (67%) felt that the violence they experienced was linked to their sexual orientation and gender identity. Among gender minority participants [transgender and nonbinary individuals], this was even higher, at 70% of participants". Comparing their findings to other research on sexual violence amongst the population at large in South Africa, the study notes that "the lifetime prevalence of sexual violence among LGBTI people is very much higher than among the general population". On violence victimization along racial lines, it noted that "black participants had also experienced slightly higher levels of all forms of violence, compared to white participants, although these differences were not always statistically significant". Violence against men The 2022 gender-based violence study conducted by South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council found that 2.3% of adult South African men had been sexually victimized in their lifetimes (outside of the home), whilst 1.3% had admitted to sexually assaulting other men. highlights the regional differences of citizens' perceptions and fears. Surveying what type of crime respondents thought occurred most in their area of residence, 14.6% of Northern Cape respondents reported that they believed rape to be the most prevalent type of crime. While the Northern Cape had the largest percentage of respondents who believed rape to be most prevalent, the province of KwaZulu-Natal had the least, with 1.7%. Averaging all provinces, rape ranked 7th in the crime that respondents thought was most prevalent, after housebreaking, property theft, robbery, murder, livestock theft, and assault. This survey also investigated what type of crime respondents feared most in their area. Rape ranked third in this category after only murder and housebreaking. 40.8% of respondents in the Northern Cape and 31.8% of respondents in Free State feared rape the most. On the other side of the spectrum, 11.6% of KwaZulu-Natal and 12.1% of respondents in Mpumalanga stated rape as the crime they were most afraid of in their area. By September 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that sexual violence against women had grown in South Africa, The nation's "Mother City" Cape Town has seen an extended use of military deployment to combat sexual violence against women as well. ==Types==

Violence against women The South African government reports that one of these reasons is the culture of patriarchy in South Africa. Its report states that patriarchy is firmly rooted in black and white culture, and fighting it is seen as attempting to destroy South African tradition or South African ideals. The perpetrators of rape in South Africa tend to be men known to the victim. Many men and women say that rape cannot occur in relationships; however, one in four women reported having been abused by an intimate partner. In 1993 South Africa outlawed marital rape. In September 2019, President Ramaphosa responded to a surge in violence against women by calling for the passage of laws making rape punishable by death and called an emergency session of the South African Parliament. The Tears Foundation and the MRC stated 50% of South Africa's children will be abused before the age of 18. The MRC study stated that, in 2009, 15% were under 12 years old. In 2017, the police reported that 9% of reported rape are those of children nine years old or younger, with agencies reporting an increase throughout the country. Although there are varying numbers on the number of reported rapes of children, one report states that in 2000, 21,538 rapes and attempted rapes of children under the age of 18 were reported and another from 2001 states that there were 24,892 rapes. Child welfare groups believe that the number of unreported incidents could be up to 10 times that number. The largest increase in attacks was against children under seven. A trade union report said a child was being raped in South Africa every three minutes. Some cite a 400% increase in sexual violence against children in the decade preceding 2002 In February 2002, an eight-month-old infant was reportedly gang raped by four men. One has been charged. The infant has required extensive reconstructive surgery. The 8-month-old infant's injuries were so extensive that increased attention on prosecution has occurred. A significant contributing factor for the escalation in child abuse is the widespread myth in HIV ravaged South Africa that having sex with a virgin will cure a man of AIDS. This virgin cleansing myth exists in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. The child abusers are often relatives of their victims and are at times their fathers or providers. The South African government reported to CEDAW that lesbians and gays are discriminated against in many spheres. One notable case of this was the gang-rape and murder of Eudy Simelane, a member of the South African football team and LGBT-rights activist. Corrective rape is also perpetrated against gay men. A 2003 study conducted by Out LGBT Well-Being (Out) and the University of South Africa Centre for Applied Psychology (UCAP) discovered that the percentage of black gay men who said they have experienced corrective rape matched that of the black lesbians who participated in the study. Stigmatization of male victims was said to be the cause of low reporting rates for corrective gay rape. Violence against men About 3.5% of men have been forced to have sex with other men in a 2009 Medical Research Council survey. About 19.4% of all adult victims of sexual assault in South Africa in 2012 were male. Another group's survey estimates that one in five adult males becomes a victim of sexual offences, and this figure could be much higher, as a male is 10 times less likely to report a sexual violation than a woman. There are very few support networks for male victims of rape in the country, which makes it difficult for men to report being raped. Prison rape Nearly half of all South African inmates surveyed by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services reported that sexual abuse happens "sometimes", "often", or "very often". Sexual violence in prisons is linked to gang violence and its power structures, and inmates who are sexually abused are targets for repeated abuse, and usually are victimized again and again. Survivors of prison rape have told that officials in the country are of the opinion that "[males should] expect this treatment in prison", and scholarship has found that "new inmates in male prisons are raped upon arrival by all members of any given cell." The high prevalence of prison rape has been tied to the high rate of HIV infection in the country. == Perpetrators ==

Men In 2014 and 2015, a Western Cape study estimated that 15% of men had raped a woman who was not their partner. A Gauteng study conducted in 2010 revealed that 37.4% of men admitted to raping a woman. More than 25% of a sample of 1,738 South African men from the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces admitted to raping someone when anonymously questioned in 2009; of these, nearly half said they had raped more than one person, according to a non-peer reviewed policy brief issued by the Medical Research Council (MRC). Several news publications wrongly extrapolated these results to the rest of the South African population, giving reported rape prevalence several times higher in the two provinces in question. Nearly three out of four men who admitted rape stated they had first forced a woman or girl into sex before the men were the age of 20, and nearly one in ten admitted to doing so before the age of 10. It also said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding. In a related survey conducted among 1,500 school children in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, a quarter of all the boys interviewed said that 'jackrolling', a term for gang rape, was fun. girls from all levels of society and ethnic groups have been subjected to sexual violence at school in bathrooms, empty classrooms, dormitories, and more. Police, prosecutors, and social workers have also complained that many incidents of sexual violence in schools are not reported to them because schools often prefer to deal with it internally, thus hindering justice against the perpetrators. The danger of sexual violence in schools has created a barrier for girls to seek education. HRW also reported that South African girls' school performance suffers after an incident of sexual violence. ==Law==

The government of the Republic of South Africa is cognizant of this problem. The Bill of Rights in the Constitution of South Africa is intended to ensure the rights of all people in South Africa, grounded in the democratic values of human dignity, equality, and freedom. Furthermore, it calls for the right to freedom and security, including freedom from all forms of violence by either public or private sources and the right to bodily and psychological integrity, including reproduction and bodily security. It also adds measures in the matters of sexual offences against children (including consensual sexual acts), sexual exploitation, exposure to pornography, forced witness of sexual acts, and sexual offences against the mentally disabled. Furthermore, the amendment provides services for victims of sexual offences and compulsory HIV testing of alleged sex offenders and creates a national registry for sex offenders. This act has repealed the common law offence of rape, replacing it with a broader statutory offense which is defined in section 3 of the act as follows: and "sexual penetration" is defined as: Marital rape is illegal; section 56 of the act provides that: Concerning sentencing, S.3(aA) of the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Amendment Act 2007 provides that: Report and conviction rates It is estimated that over 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime and that only one in nine rapes are reported. It is also estimated that 14% of perpetrators of rape are convicted in South Africa. In 1997, violence against women was added as one of the priority crimes under the National Crime Prevention Strategy; nevertheless, the rates of reported rape, sexual abuse of children and domestic violence continue to rise. The South African report to CEDAW partly attributes the low report and conviction rate to the post-apartheid public perception of the police force. Moreover, the report states that the attitudes and prejudices of law enforcement agencies and other government personnel, as well as the inaccessibility of services, particularly in rural areas, are also part of the problem. Other institutional barriers contribute to the low reporting and conviction rates. The "cautionary rule" is a law that requires a judge to show awareness of special dangers in relying on uncorroborated evidence of a complainant, lowering this rate and making victims of sexual violence feel as if the court will deem them untrustworthy. ==Responses==

The South African Government has passed legislation to address gender equity more generally and domestic violence in particular. The Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit was established in 1999 within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of the Department of Justice. Specialised Sexual Offences Courts (SOCs) dedicated to sexual violence were established in 2005. worked with USAID to develop the model which developed into the Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC). TCCs offer a cohesive intervention, using a multi-disciplinary approach to prevent and combat the problem of GBV. Government departments, including Justice, Health, Social Development, Treasury, work alongside NGOs which coordinate counselling services by social workers. The name is derived from the Xhosa word , meaning "comfort". In an information leaflet, a TCC is described as "a designated health facility that provides forensic and medical services to rape survivors as an emergency service in the 72 hours immediately after a rape". Many centres have been established throughout the country; , there were 58. Each stakeholder in the TCC is accountable from the moment the case is opened to its conclusion, a measure which, according to a 2023 study, has improved conviction rates ten-fold. Over the five years up to 2023, cases dealt with by the TCCs led to more severe gaol sentences for rape in courts. In Cape Town, there are three TCCs: at Karl Bremer Hospital, Heideveld Hospital, and Victoria Hospital (at which the forensic unit is situated). In 2012–2013, the Sinawe TCC, located in Mthatha, Eastern Cape Province, won an award for being "the best-run care centre in South Africa". Other initiatives Grass-roots initiatives and protests have helped to drive the creation of various progressive laws and other initiatives to combat gender-based violence; for example, the Shukumisa Coalition comprises more than 60 organisations focused on sexual violence against women and children. In 2018, the Total Shutdown Movement protested on the streets against inaction by the government and businesses. Following this, a National Summit on Gender Based Violence and Femicide was held, including the government, the Total Shutdown Movement, and various organisations, which culminated in a signed "declaration that the government, businesses, labour and civil society would collaborate to conceptualise, drive and implement concrete measures to eradicate gender-based violence and femicide". The government then implemented a "National Strategic Plan for GBVF" (NSP). ==Media portrayal ==

This problem is portrayed to the public through various media channels. Media reports documenting high levels of sexual violence in South Africa have increased in the media since the 1990s. Others have condemned South African sexual violence in the media as fitting into a specific narrative of only broadcasting incidents where the victims are white, middle-class and educated and are not attacked by their peers or family members. News and events , 2019 However, there are many news stories and events dealing with sexual violence in South Africa that have garnered a lot of international attention. In April 1999, a female American UNICEF official visiting South Africa on business was gang raped during a robbery of the home where she was staying. The former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, was accused of raping the HIV-positive 31-year-old daughter of a family friend in November 2005, before he was president. He was acquitted by the court in 2006, yet he did admit to consensual unprotected sex with the woman. This event was widely covered by the press. One particularly well-known publication of rape in South Africa was Charlene Leonora Smith's report of her own rape. As a journalist of the Mail and Guardian and having contributed to articles for the Washington Post and BBC, Smith claimed that "rape is endemic" in the culture of South Africa. While many watchers disagree on what was actually shown, some saw Bezuidenhout manually penetrating Molokwu while she was unconscious or intoxicated while another housemate pleaded with him to stop. This was particularly controversial as Ntini was the first black cricketer to represent South Africa on an international level and was viewed as a role model. However, Ntini won his appeal against his rape conviction and had his six-year jail sentence overturned. In response to corrective rape, the New York Festivals Television and Film Awards Gala at the NAB Show in Las Vegas will award ESPN for their E:60 production, "Corrective Rape", with the Gold Award. This award was established in 1990 to films that reflected the ideals of the United Nations and signifies that the issue of corrective rape is becoming more discussed on an international level. In late August 2019, student Uyinene Mrwetyana was raped and murdered by a post office attendant who was working in Claremont, Cape Town. Her death highlighted the broader national problem of gender based violence and femicide in South Africa, and is credited with "shifting the South African collective consciousness" and "igniting a movement". Literature and fiction Some novels and movies have also delved into this issue in its connection to the Apartheid. Antjie Krog's Country of My Skull delves into the Truth and Reconciliatory Commission and the reports of women that were victims of sexual violence during the Apartheid. J. M. Coetzee's novel, Disgrace, has been accused of racism as it depicts a young white woman being raped by three black men in her house in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The 2006 documentary, Rape for Who I Am, delves into the lives of black lesbians living in South Africa. ==See also==