Rape in contemporary South Africa - More vexing and vicious than ever

Abstract

Shortly after the ANC had taken over the reigns in 1994 a major stud on crime was conducted by the Human Source Research Council (HSRC). According to them crime was regarded as South Africa's worst problem and they warned that if the government did not get in check within the last three years of the century the RSA would sink as a country. In this report they covered the increase in violent crimes from 1980 to 1995. Since 1980 to 1989 there was a steady increase in violent crimes which included assault, murder and rape. Rape was one of the crimes which increased every year.1 No wonder the incidence of crime, particularly rape, in South Africa is well above the world average. Crime, at that stage, took over from political violence as the country's biggest nightmare.