Reports of separate incidents involving a
6-year-old girl raped in a restaurant bathroom and a teenager
violated in hospital by a fake doctor shortly after giving birth have
sent shockwaves throughout South Africa.
While the country is known for its high rates of sexual assault, the
nature of the two cases that took place this week have proven
particularly appalling.
In the first incident, on Saturday, a child was allegedly raped in a
restaurant bathroom in the capital Pretoria while her mother was
right outside in the dining area, local media reported Wednesday.
Police have arrested a 20-year-old man over the incident, News24
reported, and he has been charged with rape.
In Eastern Cape province on Monday, a 17-year-old was raped in
hospital, just hours after giving birth, by a man posing as a doctor,
The Sowetan newspaper reported Wednesday.
A suspect has also been arrested in that case, according to the
paper.
The two stories were carried by most media, and popular radio talk
show host Eusebius McKaiser railed against the situation in South
Africa on his show and on social media, saying on Facebook that
"South Africa is no country for children."
Police statistics released earlier this month showed that rape was up
0.5 per cent, with 40,035 cases recorded in the last year compared to
39,828 over the previous year.