AN average of 114 rapes per day were recorded by police in the 2018/19 year, according to crime statistics.
Crime stats released by the police in parliament on 12 September last year summarising crimes covering the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.
According to the stats, sexual offences is a broad crime category that includes rape, compelled rape, sexual assault, incest, bestiality, statutory rape and the sexual grooming of children. The number of reported sexual offences increased to 52,420 in 2018/19 from 50,108 in 2017/18. Most of these were cases of rape. The sexual offences crime rate increased from 88.3 per 100,000 in 2017/18 to 90.9 in 2018/19.
According to SAPS a total of 52,420 sexual offences recorded in South Africa in 2018/19 included 41,583 rape cases, 7,437 cases of sexual assault, 2,146 attempted sexual offences and 1,254 contact sexual offences.
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The police recorded an increase in rape cases, up from 40,035 rapes in 2017/18. This means an average of 114 rapes were recorded by the police each day. The rape rate increased from 70.5 in 2017/18 to 72.1 in 2018/19.
Commenting on the number of cases reported, Trish Gillespie from The Jes Foord Foundation said the organisation had not seen the increase in the number of reported rape cases over the last few years that it would like to see.
“We have invested so much time over the last few years on creating awareness among our youth on the importance of reporting and for us we will know we are winning when we see a sharp increase in the number of rapes being reported rather than them remain unreported,” she said.
Gillespie said the organisation’s awareness team had grown over the last 12 months. “We focus on the importance of the youth understanding consent, what to do if you are sexually assaulted, where the nearest Thuthuzela Centre is and what support is available for victims,” she said.
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