Should (and could) rapists be castrated for their crimes?

Calls for criminals who raped children and the elderly to undergo surgical castration have been raised, following the rape of two young girls by a repeat offender in Pretoria last week.

Civil rights group #NotInMyName believe losing their genitalia completely is the only suitable punishment for such heinous crimes, after the arrest of the alleged serial rapist, who lured two young girls to a hotel in Sunnyside where he proceeded to rape them.

The 45-year-old accused, who is apparently related to one of the girls, took his victims from Lotus Gardens in Pretoria West to a bottle store, before they headed to a hotel where he had booked a room. This is where he allegedly raped the girls.

One of them managed to escape and alerted hotel staff of their abduction and the crime, said police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters.

“Hotel security were alerted and police were called in and subsequently arrested the suspect who was still in the hotel room,” she said.

On Monday the man’s bail hearing was postponed till 7 December, after a brief appearance before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.

Cut if off

He, however, appears to be a repeat offender, as he was out on parole for another rape case, which is why #NotInMyName secretary-general Themba Masango has suggested that the solution to preventing repeat offences of this nature is surgical castration.

“We are calling for rapists who do these heinous crimes, especially on children and elderly women, to be castrated. Since South Africa doesn’t have the death sentence, this is fitting. It must be cut off so the public and community knows that these are rapists of children,” said Masango.

The movement, which attended Khumalo’s brief court appearance on Monday, had also picketed in the foyer of the hotel where the alleged rapes took place.

Masango said their campaign would soon reach the office of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Developments.

“It has been proven that these [rapists] don’t want to be part of society. No amount of eating of the taxpayers’ money [in prison] is going to help. We want to mobilise civil societies and other political parties who are forward-thinking, to say these animals should not be granted the right to use their penises and to live like other men,” he said.

The problem isn’t men’s penises – say experts

Rape and other sexual crimes are not about the use of penises though, but a psychological issue that needs to be addressed, said researcher and gender-based violence activist Lisa Vetten.

“It doesn’t work and I think people are confused. When you initiate castration, you are saying the problem has something to do with a man’s penis and hormones rather than the problem with their thinking and attitudes. It may well be that [Khumalo] has psychological difficulties and should be addressed psychologically.”

“That is confusing the weapon with the cause.”

She said what should be analysed is the quality of rehabilitation programmes in correctional facilities, and assessing if offenders are indeed rehabilitated enough to be released back into society.

Legal hurdles

Surgical or chemical castration as a form of punishment would be difficult to justify before the Constitutional Court, as it could infringe rights to bodily integrity and impose cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment, which are prohibited in the Constitution, constitutional expert Pierre de Vos said.

“The justification would be difficult to make because firstly… people are not actually prosecuted and convicted successfully. The punishment is going to make very little difference in that context.”

“The benefit is not that much because you are going to stop people who have already been caught from reoffending.

“And few people are successfully prosecuted. This is not something we can stop with a serious punishment. It’s a societal structural issue that needs much bigger and nuanced intervention,” De Vos said.

– rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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