Like many, I have watched enraged by the latest rape story making headlines.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, the Dros rape, where a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 20-ear-old man.
While most of us are justifiably outraged, isn’t it time we did more with our anger?
Like, say, just chop off the penises of rapists?
Sending rapists to prison only for them to be released in 10 years’ time (or even less because of overcrowded prisons), back into society where they can take revenge on their victims or rape someone else, just doesn’t work for me.
How did we get to this point in South Africa?
Well, Nic Andersen, a young Cape Town-based journalist, says of the 124 526 total rape cases reported in the last three financial years, children were the victims of 41 per cent of these cases.
In the same time period, 2 600 children were also murdered, that amounts to five per cent of the total murder numbers across the country.
The numbers become even more frightening when you realise the number of child rapes has continually increased over the years.
In 2014/15, there were 15 520 child rapes reported.
Only 1 799 ended up in successful convictions.
In 2015/16, 16 389 were reported, just 2 488 were convicted.
In 2016/17, the numbers rose even further to 19 071.
There was a small improvement in convictions with 6 366 convicted.
“This also means that at least 46 children are raped every day and at least two children are murdered every single day in South Africa.
“Only 21 per cent of child rape cases and only one in three murder cases resulted in successful convictions,” says Zakhele Mbhele, DA Shadow Minister of Police.
This child raping phenomenon is nothing new.
Cast your mind back to the early 2000s when infants were raped because there was a superstition that having sex with a virgin would cure you of HIV/Aids.
That should have been when we started cutting off the offending bits.
As if child rape was not bad enough, there are other forms of violence that affect us.
Springs is a surprisingly violent place to live in.
Statistics released earlier this year show Springs is a dangerous place for a woman to own property or to drive a car or truck.
At the top 30 police stations for sexual assault, Springs came in at number 14.
Thirty-one sexual assault cases were reported, which is a slight decrease from the previous year’s 33.
Property owners will be worried to know 919 cases of burglary at residential premises were opened in Springs this year.
This figure is a decrease of 115 from the previous year.
For robberies at residential areas, there were 143 cases opened, which is a 10.9 per cent increase from the previous year.
For other property-related crime, Springs was number 29, with 2 034 reported cases which were a decrease of 63 cases from the previous year.
Other surprising statistics from the report is that Springs ranked number 25 for theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles, with 362 reported cases.
There were 12 reported truck hijackings in Springs, which was a slight increase from the previous year.
So, whichever way you look at it, we are being attacked from all sides.
My solution is simple and gruesome.
If it causes you to sin, cut it off.
If you steal, gouge out your eye.
If you rape, chop off your penis.
I’m not saying this will decrease the crime rate, but it will make suspects think twice about committing a crime.
Of course, this will leave no room for mistakes, but we’ll take that chance.
Not only will this make so many of us who have been affected by crime sleep better at night, but it will also save taxpayers money.
It’s an appalling think that someone could kill or rape and then you spend the rest of your life feeding, clothing and treating your assailant with your tax money.
What do you say?
