LISTEN | Ramathuba says public servants who don’t report statutory rape are complicit in the crime

Public servants who fail to report statutory rape are “equally secondary raping” children, says Limpopo premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba.

She said every police station and hospital has staff trained to handle rape cases.

“The only thing that we don’t have is the state of attitude, it's the passion that we need from those who are serving the public.

“Once there is that commitment, for example, [from] a schoolteacher who picks up this problem, to the doctor who attends to the patient, to the prosecutor, then the magistrate or the judge will have facts and will be able to arrest,” Ramathuba said in an SABC News interview.

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This comes after a 28-year-old man was arrested in the province for the alleged statutory rape of a 13-year-old who gave birth on Christmas Day after the premier reported the case. Three 15-year-olds in KwaZulu-Natal and a 16-year-old from North West were among those who gave birth on Christmas Day.

Ramathuba said: “We are not being decisive and we are not taking strong action against perpetrators.

“We can blame politicians, parents, poverty but you who are a professional working in that police station, clinic, hospital and you’re doing nothing, you are equally secondary raping this girl child.”

Section 110 of the Children's Act requires teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, police officers and other professionals working with children to report suspected cases of child abuse, including sexual abuse or statutory rape. These professionals are known as mandatory reporters. Failure to report is considered an offence and may result in a fine, imprisonment for up to five years, or both, if the individual is found guilty.

About 365 teenage girls give birth every day in the country, with 10 of those births involving mothers under the age of 15.

“Anyone thinking about committing this crime in our province you will find us waiting for you” Ramathuba warned.

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