Alex Police Station acting commander Colonel Nhluvuko Zondi, expressed concern at the unrelenting instances of rape, particularly of defenceless children.
This after several recent reports of rape by this newspaper, some involving children as young as three years old and also the courts handling gruesome rape cases, which attracted protests by child rights and care organisations and the public.
Zondi said that often, the rapes were committed by people known and trusted by the children. “They sometimes lure them with promises of money and material things, only to be left with unhealed emotional trauma from rape for the rest of their lives,”she said.
The rapes, Zondi added, also extended to older females who were victims of domestic violence and abuse linked to the patriarchal nature of society, which regarded them as subservient to the male. She said this encouraged many males to continue abusing and sexually molesting their ex-girlfriends and spouses under the belief that they owned them, despite the ended relationship.
She said police also expected many reports of abused women when their menfolk get paid their year-end bonuses. “They will beat their spouses and girlfriends when asked for money to clothe the children for the festive season, or to save some of it for next year’s school fees and other household needs.
“Other men will not want to share the money, pretending to take it to their claimed wives in the rural areas, forgetting the women who have cared for them and their children for the entire year in the township.”
Visible Policing commander, Colonel Johannes Tau, added that abused children were a concern which required parents to be sensitised to their parental responsibilities. “From Friday to Sunday, many young children are picked up and brought to the station by strangers concerned about their safety; some will already have been abused,” Tau said.
He urged families and parents who will be preoccupied with other activities to entrust their children to reliable people and also to keep their children busy in productive ways during the festive season to avoid them being enticed by those wanting to abuse them.
Details: Alexandra Police Station 011 321 7600.
Read: Police investigate school girl rapes
