Sex Act confuses us, say teens

IF THE name of the so-called Sexual Offences Act was not such a mouthful, teenagers may be able to remember it.

This was one of the suggestions put forward by teenagers who yesterday spoke to parliament’s portfolio committee on justice and correctional services about the proposed amendments to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act.

Thomas Aston, 17, said: “We propose that the title must be shortened so that young teenagers can remember the name.”

Many children do not know that having consensual sex with another child is a crime, 14-year-old Amkele Ndaba said.

Amkele said while parents always tell teenagers not to have sex, “sex and sexuality ” is a natural part of growing up.

The legislation at the centre of the discussion previously declared consensual sexual acts between teenagers aged 12 to 15 a crime. The Constitutional Court ruled that this infringed on children’s constitutional rights and ordered parliament to remedy the defects.

The portfolio committee started hearing public submissions on the amendment bill last week. In terms of the proposed new law, consensual sexual acts involving a child between 12 and 15 years old will only be a crime if one of the sex partners is more than two years older than the other.

Lucy Jamieson, researcher at the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town, said there was a perception that the committee was lowering the age of consent for sex. She proposed that the legislation must “explicitly state ” that the age of consent is 16.