Arguably, South Africa is the “rape capital” of the world with the highest rape statistic in the world. A survey conducted by the South African Medical Research Council, revealed that approximately one in four men surveyed admitted to having committing rape in their lifetime.

1. Now let’s get back to the pressing issue at hand, what is statutory rape? This first point of contention is to find the legal definition of rape. The Criminal law act 32 of 2007(referred herein as the Act) defines a sexual act as “an act of sexual penetration or an act of sexual violation”. ²

2. Section 3 of the Act defines rape as “Any person (“A”) who unlawfully and intentionally commits an act of sexual penetration with a complainant (“B”), without the consent of B, is guilty of the offence of rape.”

3. Statutory rape is defined as 15. (1) “A person (“A”) who commits an act of sexual penetration with a child (“B”) is, despite the consent of B is guilty of statutory rape.” It is very important for the readers to understand that if you are under the age of 16 you cannot consent to having sexual intercourse whether it’s penetration or masturbation with another person. 

4. A person who commits statutory rape can go to jail for a very long time. It is deemed a very high offence according to the Laws of South Africa. Readers must also be aware that, opening a fake rape case can also lead to you being liable criminally, in obstructing the ends of justice. 

5. Statutory rape offenders have, in the past used certain defenses in which the readers must be aware of. One of the defenses is that the complainant (victim) states that she/he is older than 16 years of age, and showed the accused an identity document that confirmed the same.  

6. According to the act there are exception of statutory rape. If two minors are under the age of 16 but over the age of 12 have consensual sexual relations, in the eyes of the law this would not be considered statutory rape.

7. Steps to take if statutory rape has been committed against you, or against a person of interest. The first step is to lay a complaint against the perpetrator with the police. A case will be opened and an investigating officer will be allocated to that case. The guardian or the Minor must assist in opening a case. Even if the case is opened outside the jurisdiction in which the offense occurred, the police must not turn the victim away, and investigate the case. 

8. The allocated investigating officer must attend to the scene of the crime and gather evidence, also take witness statements.

9. The victim of the sexual offence should firstly get a medical examination immediately after the incident. The victim of the assault must avoid drinking any water or eating if the sexual offense was also done orally, until such a time they are examined by a medical practitioner, this is to ensure that evidence is not lost. 

10. The victim must also avoid bathing until such a time they have been examined by a medical practitioner. Even if the victim does not have the physical evidence, the guardians of the victim must not be discouraged in opening up a case of statutory rape. 

11. I hope this article was insightful in what statutory rape is. 

Reference                                                                                                                  ¹ Understanding men’s health and use of violence: Interface of rape and HIV in South Africa.

https://web.archive.org/web/20110516150322/http://www.mrc.ac.za/gender/violence_hiv.pdf Cited 08/06/2021

² Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 

https://www.gov.za/documents/criminal-law-sexual-offences-and-related-matters-amendment-act cited: 08/06/2021

Ubusha Bami futhi yimi lo – My youth and this is me! ©