I don't know how much you all know about the recent media attention child rapes have been drawing in South Africa. On almost a daily basis it is reported that at least one child younger than the age of one year (yes, less than one year) has been the victim of rape and/or sodomy. It seems that while this nation reels in shock and abject horror the international press have been so wrapped up in the Afghanistan fiasco that this appaling trend has gone almost unnoticed. Now it's likely that the SA government have been trying to keep it 'low profile' (indeed Mbeki has as yet said nothing on this seemingly escalating problem) due to the very poor state of our currency. But the fact remains that babies are being maimed (the physical damage in these cases is generally irrepairable) and apart from a little civilian bandstanding and liberal outbursts very few valuable and practical ways forward have been expounded. We hear cries of 'Castrate them', and 'Bring back the death penalty', and we see viligante mobs stoning and beating suspects, but that doesn't solve the problem. So why were these men driven to rape babies, and how could they concieve of sex with an infant in the first place? The party line is that traditional healers have told them that sex with a virgin will cure them of Aids. But that's a cover. An excuse. The ANC promised the country the world. Housing, land, employment... and haven't delivered. Don't get me wrong, they were noble promises, but they promised too much too soon. The result is a nation of people who have been waiting for years for the hand-outs they been promised. They remain as poor and, due to their circumstances, if it is at all possible, as downtrodden as they ever were during the apartheid years. And the more powerless they become... it's an age-old tale. My question is: What's to be done? Aids is on the increase here despite overt awareness campaigns. The government is stalling on the AZT front. Dare I say that the SA government is trying to cull the nation? Get rid of the dead wood as it were? Startling thought.

Just a few thoughts. Use em, don't use em. cacey

-- Cacey Jay (cacey_j@yahoo.co.uk), December 05, 2001

Answers

Cacey,

Your analysis of the situation seems pretty well thought out and on the mark. I wanted to answer because no-one else did. This could be due to the same reason I myself did not reply at first - I only went into your comment by mistake. It is too scarey and sickening. That is no excuse, but it is nonetheless a regrettably valid one in the context of 'safe' Scottish single childless female. Nevertheless, I do find it appaulling that this is allowed to go on and on. But I remain, like the rest of the so called 1st World - unforgivably retiscent.

-- Monica McNulty (monica2uk@yahoo.co.uk), February 06, 2002.