Protecting our children, the forgotten victims of GBV

Protecting our children, the forgotten victims of GBV

By Sazini Mojapelo, CEO, GBVF Response Fund 1

As the country observed Child Protection Week towards the end of May, an eight-year old boy from a village outside Peddie in the Eastern Cape was enduring the most horrific acts of rape and abuse at the hands of his father. Community members alerted the police about the maltreatment of the boy, and when police arrived, they found the child alone and cuffed with a chain.

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Just days earlier the body of 17-year-old Palesa?Malatji, a Grade 12 pupil, was found in a park near her school in Soshanguve, outside of Pretoria. Palesa suffered a brutal sexual assault while walking home from school after attending extra classes. It is believed that she probably knew her killers, that’s why they could not let her live after raping her. While her brutal murder sent shockwaves through the community, elsewhere in Gauteng the residents of Welverdiend near Carletonville expressed their outrage as a father was arrested for the rape and subsequent death of his eight-day-old baby daughter.??

Reading about these heinous crimes, I was lost for words. It will take a lifetime for that young boy to recover from the physical and mental scars of the violence he had to endure. What brutality, what total loss of humanity, and what heartlessness must be part of the perpetrators’ psyche to have committed these horrifying deeds to Palesa and the new-born girl?

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As we contemplate this year’s Youth Month, and as a mother to teenagers, the ways in which we protect our children require deep reflection. ?

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Shortly after Palesa’s murder, the South African Police Service (SAPS) released the quarterly crime statistics; reported and recorded between January and March 2023. A total of 10 512 rape cases were registered during the first three months of the year, which translates to around 116 rape cases per day. While most rapes took place at the home of the victim or the perpetrator, 76 of the recorded rapes during this period were committed on school premises, of which 3 cases happened at day care or aftercare facilities, 67 at schools and 6 at special schools. In a total of 47 of these recorded cases, the primary suspect was a fellow learner.??

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Pupils face a perfect storm of a failed education system, and various other external risk factors make our children vulnerable, contributing to the high incidence rate of gender-based violence on school premises. They include paternal voids, where a dad – or another strong male figure – is not there to raise, guide, and set the example for our boys. There are also children who have grown up in intimate partner violence environments and then repeat the cycle of violence in their romantic adolescent relationships. ?

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Peer pressure, drug abuse and manipulative friendship groups; as well as children who have been exposed to porn and not understanding the concept of what a relationship is, also play a role. New manifestations such as cyber harassment, trolling, stalking, body shaming, and non-consensual creation of sexual images through artificial intelligence have also become prevalent. Other risk factors may include child grooming, where a perpetrator makes use of their adult authority or economic resources to draw a child into a relationship that is for the benefit of the perpetrator’s sexual desires.

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Ending intergenerational cycles of abuse

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As we can see from the above, gender-based violence and femicide is driven by the absence of social norms, poor family structures, toxic masculinity and for the children of today, social media and digital access has created an added layer of abuse.

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We sadly live in a society where we say, “don’t get raped” as opposed to “do not rape”. We cannot accept and normalise rape as “inevitable”, and we teach rape prevention instead of consent.?

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Words though are not enough. Actions to break this cycle of violence are what’s needed.

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The tension between our Criminal Law and family values

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In 2021, statutory rape – mostly reported as teenage pregnancy – took centre stage as various provincial governments released statistics on how these rates had increased. At the time, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga revealed that an alarming 90 037 girls aged 12 to 19 gave birth in the period March 2021 to April 2022, across all provinces. She added that during the same period, a further 11 287 girls between 12 and 19 years fell pregnant. The Covid-19 pandemic amplified existing societal challenges, such as statutory rape, with limited access to clinics and abortion services, as well as long-running shortages of contraceptives at state healthcare facilities highlighted as additional reasons behind the surge in cases during this period.

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Our Criminal Law stipulates that any person who has knowledge of a sexual offence being committed against a child?must?report it to the South African Police Services. Yet, the problem with these statistics is that in South Africa a very small percentage of rapes, and specifically statutory rapes, are actually reported.

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According to the Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act (2007), the age of sexual consent for both boys and girls is 16 years of age. Statutory rape is defined as the act of consensual sexual penetration or violation of a child that is between the ages of 12 and 16. Of course, there are some exceptions; for example, if both partners are between the ages of 12 and 16, they won’t be criminally charged; and it is not criminal for a child under the age of 16 to have sex with a partner who is less than 2 years older than they are.

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South African law furthermore states that no child under the age of 12 can consent to sex, and therefore, sex with a pre-teen is rape or sexual assault. However, a 12-year-old child can lawfully consent to having sexual relations with another child that is between the ages of 12 and 16. Similarly, a 16-year-old may consent to having sexual relationships with a person that is between the ages of 16 and 18.

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These provisions have serious consequences for the sexual and reproductive health of young teenage girls in particular who may be deterred from seeking help or information around pregnancy, HIV and other STIs, as well as contraception and termination of pregnancy due to fear of being reported to authorities. Indeed, healthcare workers, teachers, or parents who fail to report underage children having sex could themselves be charged for not following the law.

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It is mission critical that we teach our children about sexual consent through school-based interventions. We have to nurture their self-respect and teach them that saying “no” and speaking up when you are being violated, is a basic human right. I believe this will have an enormous impact on reducing sexual offences against children. That being said, our starting position is teaching the teachers and creating the awareness.

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It is furthermore important to support discussions about consent and how social norms need to be embedded at home at an early age. The What Works Programme, an innovative global programme working in 13 countries across the world, have shown that holistic approaches in schools i.e. a?“Whole Schools” model, can ignite the positive change we need. This programme reinforces key messages across students, staff, parents and the wider community, focusing on non-violent practices and culture, and the GBVF Response Fund1 (the Fund) supports this model.

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The Fund will be driving a nationwide advocacy campaign focused on schools to disseminate learning and information on these critical matters. This is in addition to our partnership with organisations such as Primestars and their What about the boys Programme. Together we are committed to become part of the solution to create a new cohort of self-loving and confident young men who understand their self-worth.?

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The true nature of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children. When children are hurt, we as a society are diminished.?