1 out of 10 black men in South Africa admitted to having raped a woman in an anonymous electronic survey. A 2010 study led by the government-funded Medical Research Foundation says that in Gauteng province, more than 37 percent of men said they had raped a woman. Nearly 7 percent of the 487 men surveyed said they had participated in a gang rape. More than 25% of South African men questioned in a survey admitted to raping someone; of those, nearly half said they had raped more than one person, according to a new study conducted by the Medical Research Council. One in three of the 4,000 women questioned by the Community of Information, Empowerment and Transparency said they had been raped in the past year. South African Woman: "Rape is Normal Here" A study on sexual violence in South Africa has found that many children think rape is normal and acceptable. A survey of 9,300 children under age 18 found that, depending on the part of the country, 12 to 20 percent of boys, and five to 13 percent of girls admit having forced themselves on others. One in Four South African Men Admit Rape - Survey, Reuters, June 25, 2000 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31456652 Rape of lesbians is also a common occurrence. They are raped with the excuse that it will "cure" them and make them start wanting to have sex with a man. Crisis in South Africa: The shocking practice of 'corrective rape' - aimed at 'curing' lesbians | The Independent | The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/crisis-south-africa-shocking-practice-corrective-rape-aimed-curing-lesbians-9033224.html The actual rape rate may be higher than that. One mother of a 3-year-old who was raped by a man in his 40s struggled to report the case after police in two stations in Cape Town turned her away. The South African Parliament Calls on Police to Be Sensitive to Survivors of Rape (globalcitizen.org) Mom who tried to report toddler's rape was turned away twice by police , Published: Sep 17, 2019, News24.com https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/south-africa-police-sensitive-rape-survivors/ The occurrence of rape is seen as relatively so normal that the usual prison sentence for rape is only 4 years, and it can be less than that depending on the circumstances. This makes South Africa the country in the world with the most lenient sentences for rape, with Sweden in second place for that distinction. (Although there are other parts of the world where men are often not punished at all because being found guilty of rape would mean the death penalty) One woman, fed up with the high rape rates in her country, came up with an invention so women could "bite" back. South African doctor invents female condoms with 'teeth' to fight rape - CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/06/20/south.africa.female.condom/index.html Dr. Sonnet Ehlers invented a plastic insert, like a female condom, that women can place in their vagina in the event of high risk situations. If a man forces himself into her, his sexual organ will be caught in the device, held in place by teeth-like hooks, which will cause him immense pain and can only surgically be removed from his organ.
another recent news story from South Africa: More than 80 men have been arrested after a brutal gang rape of 8 women The incident occurred at an abandoned mine in Krugersdorp where a video crew who were there to make a music video were attacked by a group of armed men. Women and girls in the Krugersdorp area had complained about the widespread crime and violence. The video crew of was composed of 22 people, 12 of them women. They were filming when they were attacked "by a group of armed men clad in blankets". "The suspects ordered everyone to lay down and proceeded to rape eight of the women and robbed everyone of their belongings before fleeing the scene," said the police commissioner for Gauteng province, Lt Gen Elias Mawela. Police were investigating 32 counts of rape, he added. The miners in that area eke out a living working in dangerous abandoned shafts, and apparently mainly come from other countries including Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Out of 80 of the miners who were arrested between Friday and Saturday, at least 20 of them were juveniles. The additional arrests carried out on Tuesday are not believed to be specifically connected to the gang rape incident, but were part of a crackdown in response to general allegations of criminality against the miners, and brought the total number of arrests up to over 120. One woman was filmed haranguing police minister Bheki Cele about the security situation in West Village, a part of Krugersdorp. "This is the norm, this is what we are experiencing every single day," she said. "Even during the day you cannot walk freely without having an escort. You can't go to the store and buy bread without having an escort." South African police arrest more than 120 after gang-rape of eight women | Sexual violence | The Guardian, Lizzy Davies, August 2, 2022 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/aug/03/south-african-police-arrest-more-than-120-after-gang-rape-of-eight-women
