A recent Medical Research Council study of South Africa found that incidents of rape may be as much as ten times higher than the previously reported 240 per 100,000 rapes annually. Date and marital rape were found to be especially common in the country, with a third of all rapes committed by relatives or male acquaintances of the rape survivors. The report sites patriarchal South African society as the primary social force behind the country’s high incidence of rape. Tolerance of sexual violence is reinforced by law enforcement officials who fail to treat rape cases with the seriousness they deserve.
Media Resources: Daily Mail and Guardian (http://www.mg.co.za/mg/) 15 August 2000