JOHANNESBURG, Nov 3 (AFP) - A South African medical aid company Wednesday said it would launch a special rape insurance policy, the second company in the country to do so in two months.

The LifeSense medical insurance group said it had devised a policy in conjunction with Lloyds of London that would cost 11 rand (1.8 dollars) a month and provide rape victims with medical and psychological treatment worth 14,000 rand (2,300 dollars).

The policy will pay for anti-AIDS drugs for rape victims, and special payouts could be made to help victims upgrade security at their homes, the company said in a statement.

"In an environment where rape is so pervasive we need to extend protections to rape survivors in the families," said LifeSense managing director Angus Rowe.

South Africa is believed to have one of the highest incidences of rape in the world.

In October CGU Insurance launched a similar policy, provoking an outcry.

Anti-rape groups accused the company of trying to turn a profit out of crime.

The South African government is currently embroiled in controversy over the country's rape statistics and its response to the crime.

President Thabo Mbeki last week criticised police for releasing rape statistics that led people to believe that nearly two million women are raped annually, saying the figures were "speculative."

He was referring to a 1997 police report that said that only one of 36 rapes in South Africa was reported, which would suggest from extrapolation from the 56,000 rape cases reported that year that 1.8 million people had in fact been raped.

Organisations which deal with rape estimate that about one million women are raped every year in South Africa.

The Mbeki government is also increasingly coming under fire for refusing to distribute the anti-AIDS drug AZT to rape victims in state hospitals to limit their chances of contracting HIV, which leads to AIDS.

Mbeki last week defended government policy, saying the drug could be dangerous and its efficacy had not been proven.

991103
AF991106

Copyright © AFP or Agence France-Presse, 1999 - AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, that no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics.  http://www.afp.com/