80 kids raped since January

A week ago this was the headline in the local Swazi
newspaper. It’s a sobering realization that we have a long way to go until the
children of the world are protected from such atrocities.

ABOUT 80 children
have been raped in Swaziland in the last two months, police have said.
Statistics released by late last week indicate that from January to the end of
February, at least 121 rape incidents were reported in the country, and more
than two-thirds of these involved children.
Such alarming figures have fuelled the call for urgent passing of the Domestic
Violence and Sexual Offences Bill into law. Police Director of Domestic
Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Senior Superintendent Leckinah
Magagula has raised an alarm, especially to women and children – who are major
targets of abuse.

Senior Superintendent Magagula encouraged parents to keep a ‘hawk-eye’ on their
children, particularly during the current marula season. The seasonal marula
brew and alcohol abuse had been cited as the leading cause for most rape cases
in the country. Magagula said a number of children were raped on the way home
after school and some at their respective homes. Police have warned that most
children were raped by people well known to them. The statistics show that they
are in danger from their siblings, parents, uncles, neighbours and helpers. The
unprecedented increase in rape cases has fuelled police to call upon parliament
to urgently pass the Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Bill to Law. Senior
Superintendent Magagula observed that the country was using outdated laws with
light penalties against the perpetrators. She prayed that parliament would
apply the same urgency it show when passing the Human Trafficking Law.

The country is stuck with pre-colonial laws such as the Crimes Act of 1889 and
the Girls and Women’s Protection Act of 1920. In essence, such laws cripple the
efficiency of the judicial system and do not effectively address the evolving
trends of abuse. “It is high time perpetrators are given harsher sentences,”
she said.

The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill has been tabled in both Houses
of Parliament and this legislation seeks to address some major gaps which
appear in the current laws dealing with sexual offences and domestic violence.  For instance, it has broadened the definition
of rape to cover not only unlawful sexual intercourse with another but also
unlawful sexual acts committed under certain circumstances, including any
coercive manner, under false pretence or by fraudulent means, under duress,
fear of violence or psychological oppression.