Time rapists were classified enemies of mankind

It’s a sad fact that only one in four rapes are reported to the Saps, writes from Benoni.

Farouk Araie

Rape, murder and violent crime continues to engulf the rainbow nation of South Africa. It is estimated that 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime. It is a sad fact that only one in four rapes are reported to the Saps. Court records reveal that only 14% of perpetrators of rape are convicted in South Africa. From 2008 to 2016, 48 000 cases per annum were reported to the police.

Around the world, rape, sexual abuse and gender brutality are everyday occurrences, affecting millions of women and children.

A report from the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights quotes the following: “By rape the victim is treated as a mere object of sexual gratification, without regard for the personal autonomy and control over what happens to her body.”

How does one account for the strange contrast between our outrage about rape and the brutal murder of our women and our unwillingness as a society to actually do anything about it?

For one, we are more widely complicit in crimes against women than we care to acknowledge?

It is time for us all as South Africans to feel the searing shame our society has until now imposed on female victims.

We need to be reminded that rape was codified as part of The Crimes Against Humanity in The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

It is time that rapists be classified as hostis mumanis generis (enemies of mankind).