YOU CAN FIND YOURSELF going to jail for 10 years, for not reporting if you knew about the rape of a child in this country. Even if it is said that you are not related to the victim, but if evidence is found that you knew and did not report, you can get into trouble because the law requires you to report.
This was revealed by the police chief, Lieutenant General Hilda Senthumule, yesterday at a meeting of the police committee in Parliament. In this meeting, the rape of young children, known as Statutory Rape, was discussed.
Complaints have been made about the non-reporting of cases of child rape, committed by families and relatives. In some families, it turns out that the matter ends up being hidden because the family is involved. Some rich families are said to be afraid of shame and do not report. Some cases are said to have been dropped due to intimidation of the victims.
Lt General Senthumule said that everyone is expected to report if a child is raped.
“The law is clear, you can be sentenced for 10 years, if you knew that the child was raped but ignored this. The law also orders teachers, doctors, nurses, pastors and others who work with children to report if pregnant children are under 16 years old,” he said.
Polly Boshielo, the Deputy Minister of Police, similarly lamented the lack of reporting of cases involving the rape of children.
“We are worried about the adults who just kill the people, and do not report the rape of children. Some even pay fines to the families of the victims in order to withdraw the charges. Some victims end up withdrawing the charges saying that it was agreed,” he said.
Major General Leon Rabie, stated that KwaZulu-Natal is the province with the highest number of reported cases of child rape.
“IKZN is followed by the Western Cape as well as the Free State in terms of cases reported for the financial year 2020/2021 to 2024/2025. We are worried about these cases because some are withdrawn and the sentencing of the accused is slow,” he said.
They heard members of Parliament complaining about what was done to the child victims. Those who complain about the charges being dropped, the suspect escapes and the victim does not get justice. They wanted the issue of pregnancy among young children aged 10 to 14 to be resolved.
The report of the Department of Health shows that in the financial year 2024/2025, 1,424 children were born, born to children between the ages of 10 and 14. In the same fiscal year, 67,389 children were born to 15- to 19-year-olds.
Lt General Senthumule told members of Parliament that they did not prepare a report on people who were sentenced because they failed to report on the rape of children.
“We have increased the number of detectives who will deal with cases of rape and murder. We are speeding up the DNA testing program so that the suspect does not escape because the results are slow to come back. We have recently opened a lab in KZN which we hope will help speed up the DNA testing,” he said.