Sexual crimes down, but 'not enough'
10 September 2010
Sexual crime in South Africa was down by 4.4 percent in 2009/10, and the police are confident that the re-introduction of specialised units will bring the number of sexual offences down still further.
Releasing the annual national crime statistics in Pretoria on Thursday, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said the police had made 26 311 arrests for sexual crimes between 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010.
While this was encouraging, he said, more could and had to be done to combat crimes against women and children in the country.
Mthethwa urged families and communities to help the police achieve this by breaking the silence on sexual offences and not offering protection to people who harmed women and children.
Research indicated that crimes such as rape and assault took place more often than not among acquaintances, Mthethwa said. While the victims in such cases knew the perpetrators, they often failed to report the crimes, or were prevented from doing so, for social and cultural reasons.
"This is also a very difficult area for the police to deal with, because it occurs behind closed doors," he said.
Mthethwa said that people who harboured perpetrators of sexual offences were as committed to the crime as those who had actually carried out the crime.
Source: BuaNews
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