|
SA to clamp down on rape
09/08/2006 22:50 - (SA)
Johannesburg - South Africa plans to introduce a new law that will broaden the legal definition of rape in a bid to clamp down on widespread sexual offences, says the justice ministry.
SA had one of the world's highest rates of violent crime, including rape. According to the latest police data, more than 55 000 cases of rape were reported in 2004.
Analysts said that these statistics were especially disturbing given that HIV/Aids infected one in nine South Africans.
Justice officials said sex crimes were even more prevalent and some of the most heinous acts often went unpunished as they were not covered under existing laws.
Parly expands definition of rape
Zolile Nqayi of the justice ministry said: "A reason that a lot of people subjected to sexual violence actually fall through the cracks is that current legislation doesn't cover them."
The latest draft of the Sexual Offences Bill was being considered by parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice, one of the first steps in making it into law.
In its current form, it expanded the definition of rape to include sodomy and penetration by objects other than a penis.
The bill also made provision for coercion to rape - making it easier, for instance, to dish out heavier sentences to gang leaders who ordered their followers to rape.
SA was shocked in 2003 after a local Aids activist was gang-raped and later killed by her attackers after she revealed that she was HIV-positive.
Nqayi said the new law would inflate already alarming rape statistics, but would help authorities by giving them a clearer picture of the true extent of sexual offences in SA.
He said: "I think it (the statistics) will be closer to reality. It will help us with a strategy to deal with the problem."
- Reuters
|
News
