South Africa Still Leads World In Rape

One in four South African men questioned in a survey said they had raped someone, and nearly half of them admitted more than one attack. The study, by the country's Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape had attacked for the first time during their teens. It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.

Using an electronic device to keep the results anonymous, the study found that 73% of those who admitted rape said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20. Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once. One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year. The study found that one in 10 men said they had been raped by other men. Some 3% of the men interviewed said they had coerced a man or a boy into sex.

South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the country's rape epidemic, and is considered to be the rape capital of the world. In the past, many blamed high levels of rape on white apartheid. However, when Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) won control of the government, rape and crime in general dramatically increased. A recent trade union report said a child was being raped in South Africa every three minutes with the vast majority of those cases going unreported. See Chick's THE OUTCAST.