THE REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEES ON THE CRISIS OF STATUTORY RAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA
CHANON LECODEY MERRICKS ONLINE_EDITOR
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supports the Report of the Portfolio Committees on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities; Basic Education, Health, and Social Development on the Crisis of Statutory Rape in South Africa, which was tabled in Parliament yesterday.
This report follows a motion introduced by the EFF in Parliament in 2024 calling for urgent national intervention to address the escalating crisis of statutory rape in South Africa. The motion recognised that the growing number of pregnancies among children under the age of 16 is not merely a social concern, but clear evidence that sexual crimes are being committed against minors.
Following the adoption of the motion, Parliament conducted multi-stakeholder engagements across provinces, including Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, where civil society organisations, healthcare professionals, educators and community leaders highlighted the devastating realities faced by children who are victims of statutory rape and the systemic failures that allow these crimes to continue.
The findings confirm that South Africa is facing a serious crisis of sexual violence against children. Between April 2020 and March 2023, approximately 11,500 babies were born to girls aged between 10 and 14 years old in South Africa, each case representing a potential crime of statutory rape.
The report further highlights serious institutional failures, including weak coordination between government departments responsible for child protection, the continued failure to enforce mandatory reporting laws, severe shortages of social workers, and the secondary trauma victims often experience when interacting with police, healthcare facilities and the broader criminal justice system.
The EFF therefore believes that urgent interventions must follow. Any pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection involving a child under the age of 16 must automatically trigger a criminal investigation by the South African Police Service. Government must also establish an integrated national reporting system linking the Departments of Health, Basic Education, Social Development and SAPS to ensure that cases of abuse are properly recorded, tracked and prosecuted.
In addition, the state must urgently address the shortage of social workers by employing trained graduates who remain unemployed while communities lack critical child protection services.
The backlog in DNA testing and forensic investigations must also be eliminated so that perpetrators of sexual violence are identified and prosecuted without delay. Safe houses and shelters for abused children must be expanded to ensure that victims are protected, particularly in cases where abuse occurs within their own families or communities.
The EFF supports the report and calls for the urgent implementation of its recommendations. Protecting children must remain a national priority, and all institutions of the state must act decisively to end the crisis of statutory rape in South Africa.
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