Inter Press Service - June 30, 1999
Dawn Muir

Instances of rape are growing. Two years ago, the National Institute for Crime and Rehabilitation of Offenders in South Africa estimated that every 83 seconds a woman or child was raped.

Faced with increasing cases of the incidence, concerned community members of Amanzimtoti, near the port city of durban, are making sure that people affected by violent crime are not treated as mere statistics.

Early this year a female journalist was raped. Extracts from a letter by the scribe, Charlene Smith, states, "The rapist did not just rape me. He raped my family. He raped my friends. Rape is not an event that happens on a single day, for the survivor it is a recurrent nightmare for the rest of her life".

The increase in rape figures can partly be attributed to the high unemployment rate, 39 percent of the adult population - in Kwazulu Natal, according to Gite Hatie, deputy director of the department of mental health in Durban.

Right groups are also worried about an alarming rise in rapes of children, often by relatives who believe that sex with a young virgin brings mystical powers or can even cure AIDs.

Police, court officials, social workers and women's rights activists say sexual violence against children is becoming a significant, although mostly unspoken, contributor to the disease among the youngest generation.

"It is hard to find a virgin of 16 nowadays, so men are turning to babies under 10," says Mamelato Leopeng, an AIDs counselor at the Esselen Street Health Center in the commercial city of Johannesburg.

"They are looking for clean blood. It is all based on ignorance and a lack of education," he says.

Confronting sexual issues is mostly taboo in most African cultures that rapists are frequently let off the hook and, some say, implicitly encouraged, because few families will endure the public shame of acknowledging the abuse, even when they suspect hiv may have been transmitted.

In 1998, Johannesburg's southern council together with CIET- Africa, a non-governmental organisation commissioned a study, which found that three out of 10 of the 3,700 women interviewed, had suffered some "severe form of sexual violence."

The study also found that rape conviction rates are one percent compared to conviction rates of other crimes, which are about eight percent.

The problem is not with the law enforcement agents only. According to Dr. Lorna Marten, the university of Cape Town's forensic pathologist, district surgeons often give incomplete reports, which means the case is often lost in court. Marten's research also shows that false rape reporting is extremely rare and that inadequate forensic equipment and inexperienced doctors are more likely to lead to a lack of corroborative medical evidence.

Support groups such as the Safecare Community Centre are making an impact. For example, the centre provides rape survivors with a free starter kit of the anti-retroviral drug (AZT) as long as a doctor has furnished a prescription.

Like in most parts of South Africa, rape victims often face a huge battle to obtain AZT, which must be taken within 48 hours of the rape in order to lessen the potential of contracting HIV or AIDs, assuming the rapist has the virus. Chris Hani Baragwaneth Hospital, which is said to be Africa's largest health institution, near Johannesburg, has been given the go ahead by the government to administer AZT to rape victims and HIV pregnant women.

The drug is being given to the hospital free by UNAIDs. The donation of the anti-AIDS drug is a standard commitment made to all sites where UNAIDs research is carried out.

Only a few clinics and hospitals in South Africa supply free AZT to rape victims. Those who cannot obtain the drug freely and who do not have between 330 U.S. Dollars to 660 U.S. Dollars for the anti-AIDS drug are at risk of becoming infected by the virus. The government does not subsidise the drug. One U.S. Dollar is equal to six rands.

A 1997 figures released by the Department of Statistics, showed that the number of persons infected by HIV in South Africa was about 2.5 million. The 1998 Human Development Report predicted that only 13 percent of South Africa's population would reach the age of 40 by the year 2005.

Managed by Colleen Ross of the Amanzimtoti Police Forum, the Safecare Centre consists of a comfortable lounge area, a small bedroom and ensuit toilet. Donations of toys and clothing, which play an essential part in comforting the traumatised person or child, are stored in brightly painted drawers.

Ross handles between two to six rape cases a week as well as child abuse cases, victims of violent crime, domestic violence, runaways, attempted suicides and hijacking victims.

The trauma team is made up of volunteers who have received intensive supportive care training. They are skilled in dealing with people in crisis. They work in close consultation with a number of law enforcing agents like the Criminal Justice Department, the police and the Department of Safety and Health to ensure that correct procedures are adhered to. (END/IPS/dm/lm/mn/99)
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