Child rapes and abuse in South Africa has reached an unprecedented high, councillor Amanda de Lange, media spokesperson for the Freedom Front Plus on women’s affairs says.
According to De Lange, non-official statistics indicate that, on average, every three minutes a child is raped in South Africa. This does not include instances of abuse.
“It has become proverbial to say that children in South Africa have a greater chance of being raped than they have to learn to read.
“The cruelty which accompanies the rapes, as in the case of the nine year old girl in Delft in the Western Cape who had been raped throughout the night and had been set alight thereafter numbs people to such an extent that it nearly goes unnoticed.
“Although the Western Cape MEC for community safety, Mr. Dan Plato, had expressed his satisfaction with the arrest of the accused, it is not good enough,” De Lange says.
She says that millions of rands are being wasted on personal luxuries and pleasures of ministers in South Africa, but no attention is being given to preventative measures to address the core problems of the social decay and disrespect for human life. Women and children are therefore no longer safe in their own country amongst their own people.
“President Jacob Zuma and his cabinet ministers are deaf to the media coverage and pleas about the gruesome abuses of defenceless citizens who are under their care and protection. Lip-service from the side of ministers will not resolve the problem.
“The Freedom Front Plus’ women’s committee places the responsibility for the moral and social decay in the country squarely at the door of the governing party. Contempt for women and children has reached unprecedented heights since the ANC came to power and their poor leadership in this regard cannot be excused, De Lange says.
Amanda de Lange
FF Plus spokesperson: Women’s Affairs
Contact no.: 071 604 9498
;
