A “RAGING STORM”: Molestation, Rape and Abuse of Infants, Toddlers and Children in Sub-Saharan Afric

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Molestation, child sexual abuse and rape in Africa has been described by Tunbosun Ogun dare of All Africa, (2010) as a “raging storm”. He gives a few incidences that are happening around the country; in 2010, 35-year old man, David Orji, appeared before an Asaba Magistrate Court, Delta State, for allegedly raping a six-year old girl. Mr Orji is now in prison custody.

Mr Ogundare continued by reporting another incidence in Oshogbo; a young teenage girl, Olanike (surname withheld for legal reasons) told Osogbo Magistrate Court, in Osun State, that she was raped and de-flowered by one Mr. Paul Inaolaji, a neighbour.

In 2015, according to PM News, a 41-year-old man, Mr. Waheed raped his 14-year old daughter twice in Ikorodu, Lagos.

Incidence of rape seems to be escalating, according to Vanguard Newspaper, (2016), law makers in Lagos State described the child rape situation as “alarming and disheartening” after they were made aware of yet another gruesome incidence in which a 13-year-old girl was gang raped by 3 other teenagers between the ages 14 and 16. They have now been arraigned by the police in Owode-Ibese in Ikorodu area of Lagos State. It is indeed, a disheartening situation because the police department do not seem to be equipped enough to handle this menace and there is definitely a disconnection between the police department and child protection organizations.

Child sex abuse is very common in families in sub-Saharan Africa, especially countries like Nigeria and South Africa where they are underreported. In a report in 2006, New York Times posits that “Sex Abuse of Girls is a stubborn scourge in Africa” The report recounted the stories of young girls who had been sexually abused, mostly by male relatives. Additionally, Global Health Action, (2014) revealed that “rape is a silent epidemic in Nigeria”. It also showed that the rate of sexual abuse is 11 to 55% (1,2); and Nigeria also showed 31.4 and 5.7% of sexually active adolescent females and males, respectively, reported forced sex (rape) at sexual initiation.

South Africa is yet another country with a high rate of sexual abuse. A recent report by Africa Check, (2014) stated that “according to statistics a child is raped every three minutes in South Africa”. Then a spokesman for the NGO Sonke Gender Justice, Czerina Patel, wrote in a column: “A 2009 report by trade union Solidarity indicated that a child is raped every three minutes in South Africa”. The report continued by saying that most recently, Western Cape education minister Debbie Schafer stated that a “report compiled by Solidarity Helping Hand said that while there were about 60 cases of child rape reported in South Africa every day, more than 88% of child rapes were never reported”. The claim has been repeated over the years by other entities and media, such as the South African Medical Research Council, the witness, the International Business Times, Vice, the BBC, The Guardian and Health 24.Just like Nigeria, child sexual abuse in South Africa is underreported and even when it is reported, disaggregated and incomplete data is often provided. An example of this was the statistics on child rape cases that was published by Africa Check (2014) for 2012-2013.

One of the most horrific child rape cases was reported by The Conversation, (2015) on a protest that was sparked as a result of a nine-month old baby who was raped by a full grown man in the Western Cape in 2001; he was one of the five men that were arrested by the South African and Belgian police in a swoop operation.

More cases have emerged in 2016 according to News24. In August, this year,PM News reported a few incidences in which a school teacher raped two young girls in a primary school in Durban, in another part of Durban, 51-year old man raped his 6-year old granddaughter; while a teacher in Nquthutown, also in South Africa, raped two pupils in his class and filmed himself while raping them. South Africa has been alleged to be the rape capital of the world. According to The Conversation, between 2005-2006 there were 54,926 reported rapes of women and girls. This is four times more than the reported rape cases in the US. Although, this number is declining. In 2014 Crime Statistics reported a drop to 46,253 rape cases in South Africa.

References:

• All Africa, available at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201003160576.html

• Scholarship Law Cornell, available at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1841&context=cilj

• Global Health Action, (2014) NCBI, available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4142225/ (Published August 22, 2014)

• Africa Check, available at: https://africacheck.org/reports/is-a-child-raped-every-three-minutes-in-south-africa-the-statistic-is-flawed/ (Published, 13 November 2014)

• Kgauhelo Lekalakala, PhD, (2015). ‘Explainer: behind the scourge of child rape in South Africa. Available at: ‘http://theconversation.com/explainer-behind-the-scourge-of-child-rape-in-south-africa-43436. U.K.

• Vanguard Newspaper, (2016). “Police arraign 3 teenagers over an alleged gang rape of a 13-year old girl”. Available at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/10/police-arraign-3-teenagers-over-alleged-gang-rape-of-13-year-old-girl/

• Josephine Odum, John, (2015). “Man rapes his 14-year old daughter”. Available at: http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/06/11/man-rapes-his-14-year-old-daughter/

• Amanda Khoza, (2016). “Principal in court for alleged sexual assault of Pupil”. Available at: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/nongoma-principal-in-court-for-alleged-sexual-assault-of-pupil-20160830

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Blog Post Author: Maryanne Aniagolu-Oke is a bi-lingual freelance human resource generalist and community development expert who speaks English and German. Maryanne writes for SitiTalkBlog.

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