Urgent motion revived by National Assembly to address statutory rape of young girls
Image: Photographer: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
The National Assembly of South Africa unanimously agreed to revive a motion to investigate statutory rape of young girls and review existing laws for potential amendments.
Initially introduced by the EFF in August last year, the motion was read by ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli to continue the work of committees that were unable to conduct public hearings.
Ntuli said the portfolio committees of Social Development, Basic Education, Health, Justice, and Police were mandated to receive submissions on the statutory rape of young girls, review legislation, and if necessary, recommend amendments to enforce mandatory reporting of statutory rape by teachers and nurses.
The committees were mandated to report to the House by March 31, 2025, but the actual hearings could not be conducted before the deadline.
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Ntuli said there was a need for the work of the committees to be pursued as initially intended.
He said the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities should lead the statutory rape related work and reporting to the National Assembly by November 30.
DA chief whip George Michalakis said it was high time Parliament dealt with this issue of statutory rape, which cuts across various departments, decisively.
'Statutory rape of young girls in this country has become a crisis that needs to be dealt decisively by this Parliament,' Michalakis said.
MK Party MP Hazel Mbele said the motion should not just be up for debate but it should be declared a national emergency.
'Right now in our townships, rural villages and even our schools, our children are raped, groomed and destroyed and the system is looking away,' Mbele said.
She also said while the Sexual Offences Amendment Act criminalised sex with minors, the law was good as its enforcement.
'How many teachers have we seen walk free after impregnating learners? How many sugar daddies are still driving fancy cars while 15-year-old girls carry their babies and their trauma?' Mbele asked.
EFF MP Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi said the motion, that was tabled by former MP Busisiwe Mkhwebane without notice and was adopted, had brought to the attention of the House the alarming crisis of statutory rapes, a crisis highlighting distressing reality that young girls were coerced into premature motherhood and adulthood.
'These victims are often unaware that they are violated and are in urgent need of protection and justice,' Mkhaliphi said.
ANC MP Oscar Mathafa said research showed that South Africa has extremely high rate of teenage pregnancies as one in four girls fall pregnant before they turn 20, and that out of 122,302 that gave birth in 2023/24, 2,616 were aged between 10 and 14.
He said the statistics were a disjuncture to the Sexual Offences Amendment Act that prescribes that girls under the age of 12 can't give consent to sex.
Mathafa said there was need for a collective effort to address teenage pregnancies with families being involved, and parents and guardians should report to authorities.
'The times of mediatory discussion among perpetrators and family members of victims cannot continue,' he said.
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