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Police officer allegedly rapes sex worker, Southern Star, 28 Sepember 2007

A Brighton Beach SAPS officer has been put behind bars on Tuesday after allegedly forcing a young prostitute into bushes and raping her.
SAPS spokesman, Superintendent Vincent Mdunge confirmed that the SAPS member, who cannot be named, has appeared at the Durban Magistrates Court on charges of rape.
Mdunge said the prostitute and her friends had been walking to a nearby shop in Rossburgh on Sunday, when one of the women w as apprehended after urinating on the street.
Mdunge went on to explain that the officer allegedly asked her to hand over R100 as a spot fine, the women was allegedly forced to perform oral sex on him at gunpoint before he bungled her into a SAPS van and drove her to a bushy area.
“The officer the dropped off his colleague and drove to a secluded spot in the Bluff, where he raped her,” explained Mdunge. The SAPS officer was later identified, taken for test and the victim taken for test as well.
Eric Harper, Director of Sex Workers Advocacy and Taskforce (SWEAT) said, “To hear of violence, especially rape, is always very distressing and before thinking about the broader issues one needs to stop and think about the person concerned. We are talking about a person, human suffering, something that gets lost in the sensationalising of sex workers.”

Brighton Beach SAPS Communications Officer, Anton Mnyanda said, “this is a very sensitive matter. We acknowledge that the incident took place. He has appeared in the Durban Magistrates Court”.
Mnyanda added that the SAPS official has been charged and suspended until further notice.
Harper added that it is important not to stereotype all law enforcement officers as hostile and abusive towards sex workers; “there are good police officers that do respect the human rights of sex workers, like in this situation it is reassuring to note and acknowledge that the police took action against this police officer and that legal procedures are being followed.”
According to Harper the number one concern that sex workers raise is the harassment of SAPS.
“What Sex Workers continue to ask for is to be treated as human beings, to have the same working rights as anybody else and to have a closer and better working relationship with the police and forums to express their concerns?”
In the past SWEAT has welcomed and continues to welcome the opportunity to conduct training with the SAPS, “something that has proved effective in the past,” said Harper.
Harper expressed that the public need to take ownership of the fact that as long as violence against sex workers, regardless of the severity of the violence or character of the Sex Worker, is accepted and not subjected to the same legal redress as other acts of violence.
“Violence against women will only be overcome when all violence against women is unacceptable and no situation is allowed in which certain women become 'legitimate' targets of violence,” concluded Harper.