Child-on-child sex crimes surge

Children as young as five are sexually assaulting each other in a surge of "power" crimes gripping the country.

Statistics compiled by child rights groups show an increase in pre- and primary schoolchildren sexually preying on each other across South Africa. There have been 200 such attacks since January.

"It's war out there," said Jackie Branfield of KwaZulu-Natal children's rights group the National Rights Organisation.

Over the past three months in Gauteng, 45 sexually oriented assaults have been recorded. In KwaZulu-Natal, 23 cases of children being sexually attacked by other children, some younger than 10, are being investigated.

Driving the scourge, according to a child rights expert, is the power gained by abusers in enforcing their authority over weaker and younger children.

The attackers were usually victims of abuse themselves, said child rights expert Stephanie Dawson-Cosser.

"The behaviour is driven, not by the sexual act itself , but by the power the act gives one child over another.

"The offenders have generally experienced being powerless.

"[These assaults are] possibly about regaining their power and self-confidence by exerting their power over a weaker child."

The extent of the scourge has been confirmed by the Department of Social Development.

Childline has reported that it has dealt with 200 cases of children "practising inappropriate sexual behaviour" with other children since January.

"The children are young ... and sometimes it's boys attacking younger boys," said Dumisile Nala, Childline's national executive officer. "It is occurring daily."

Branfield said the situation had worsened over the past 10 years.

She said the reasons included access to the internet.

"Most cases we deal with are [referred by] schools and the police and occur when boys follow other children into school toilets," Branfield said.

Teddy Bear Clinic acting director Dr Shaheda Oram said that though child-to-child sexual violence was not new, "it has increased".

She said that in Gauteng over the past three months her organisation had dealt with 45 such cases, with the youngest offender aged six and the oldest 14.

She believed contributing factors were the influence of the media and broader cultural violence.

"Children learn what they live."

Arina Smit, a programme manager at the National Institute for Crime Prevention, said that in Western Cape in the past three months five sexual assault cases had been dealt with. The youngest "offender" was eight.

She said such young children should not be called offenders "because a sexual offender is someone who deliberately rapes.

"Children of this age don't understand that what they're doing is against the law."

The Child Justice Act rules that children under 10 have no criminal capacity and cannot be prosecuted.

It says children aged between 10 and 14 are presumed to lack criminal capacity unless the state can prove otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt.

Dawson-Cosser said such behaviour was nothing new: "We are hearing about it now because our society is becoming more vocal."

Musa Ngcobo-Mbere, director of child protection at the Department of Social Development, said: "Often offenders have been exposed to adults performing sexual acts.

"Children will always experiment. It's just that in the past it was not reported."