Prosecutions for sexual assault no longer have to be mounted within 20 years of the offence, the Johannesburg High Court ruled yesterday.
Eight women had accused philanthropist Sidney Frankel - who died at his Johannesburg home in March aged 68 - of assaulting them when they were children.
Yesterday they won their application for the High Court to ask parliament to change the law that puts a limit on the time during which prosecutions for sexual offences other than rape can be pursued. The eight have mounted a civil claim against his estate.
Acting Judge Clare Hartford found the 20-year limit to be unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court must confirm the High Court order if it is to be of effect. The confirmation is expected soon.
Hartford gave parliament 18 months in which to change the law.
If it fails to do so, the law will be changed as the judge ordered.
Miranda Jordan-Friedmann, director of Women and Men Against Abuse, called the judgment "profound and huge and a momentous occasion".
She said generations to come would thank the Frankel Eight for what they had done.
"Everyone in this justice system won today."
She thanked the Frankel Eight for their "bravery and [revealing] their most intimate secrets to the public".
Her organisation had received many calls from victims who were sexually abused when they were children who had not come forward because of the 20-year prescription, she said.
"My clients have not only been traumatised by what happened to them; there is a secondary trauma because the law has not been changed," said Advocate Anton Katz SC when the case was argued.
Centre for Applied Legal Studies lawyer Sheena Swemmer, acting for the Teddy Bear Clinic, said it was unlikely that the High Court ruling would cause an influx of new cases.
"It's unlikely because of the nature of sexual violence.victims are often reluctant to come
forward," she said.