Civil rights organisation AfriForum has advised schools, educators, parents and pupils to act pro-actively against sexual bullying behaviour.
This follows the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele released a 2022 crime statistics report in November, stating that 294 rape cases of children from July to September were reported and they took place at school.
“In the past three years, more than 452 cases of sexual misconduct have been reported to the South African Council for Educators (Sace),” AfriForum said.
It said the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga was shocked to learn in parliament last week that sexual offences have increased in schools.
AfriForum’s manager for Education and Youth Leadership, Leandie Bräsler said the figures were alarming and significant, since all the cases were thoroughly probed.
“In South Africa, sexual crimes and bullying are increasing daily. Schools must be a safe haven for children, as well as for teachers, where they can focus on academics. Safe schools also ensure safe communities, not only now, but also in the future,” Bräsler said.
She said children will not necessarily say a word when they are a victim of sexual violence, “but parents and teachers may notice signs and must therefore be aware of what the signs may be, so that immediate action can be taken to stop or prevent incidents of this nature.”
“These include physical indications such as unexplained bruises or emotional signs such as changes in behaviour. Some children may only show subtle signs, and some children may not even give any indications, but parents must work on the communication and trusting relationships between them and their children so that the children will feel comfortable to mention any events of this nature to them,” she added.
According to Phyllis Vorster of the AfriForum’s Private Prosecutions Unit, the stats proved that the President, Minister of Justice, SAPS, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the courts’ promise to prioritise cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual offences with minor victims was only paying lip service to the public.
Vorster insisted that the Independent Complaints Directorate compile a dossier in which they answer the following questions:
- What have they done to ensure proper treatment and service at family courts?
- What have they done to ensure competent prosecutions of GBV matters?
- What have they done about the current pandemic of GBV and sexual offences where minors are the victims?
“The application of the law in schools is disciplinary action. Our view is that we must ensure that the law becomes predictable. If the law is predictable and there is a predictable outcome when violations take place, it will be a good deterrent. The law must then also be applicable to both the perpetrator and the victim, to prevent false accusations,” Vorster said.
The organisation stated the following as signs of a sexually abused child:
- Crying for no apparent reason
- Looking scared or showing signs of anxiety or depression
- Asking questions like “should people keep secrets?”
- Isolating themselves from friends and other people
- Showing harmful sexual behaviour
- Changes in sleeping patterns (sleeping a lot more or a lot less)
- Changes in eating patterns (drastically losing weight or drastically gaining weight) and academic performance suffering.
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