Child abuse cases on the rise in Cape Town

Cape Town reported the highest number of child sexual abuse cases this year with most cases reported in the greater Athlone area, according to a report on Tuesday.

Cape Town Welfare told Independent Online that 38 cases were reported last month and the first of this month. Twenty-four children across the city were abandoned.

Sexual abuse included rape, said Child Welfare chief executive Niresh Ramklass, while child abandonment included babies being dumped.

In the financial year April 2010 to March, the organisation dealt with 103 cases of sexual abuse and 239 cases of abandonment.

In Athlone, 35 children were sexually abused and 145 abandoned last year.

In Lotus River, Ottery, Philippi and Pelican Park, there were 31 sexual abuse cases, 11 in Hanover Park and 10 in Hout Bay.

In Khayelitsha, there were 29 cases of abandonment, 24 in Philippi East and 14 in Ottery, Lotus River and Pelican Park.

Athlone ward councillor Suzette Little said an education forum would be set up with a focus on social issues fuelling abuse and the abandonment of children.