Politics
Aids & rape - rape up 17,8% since 1994 in SA, Ryan Coetzee, Democratic Alliance

Statement issued by: Ryan Coetzee , DA spokesperson on Health Thursday, October 21, 2004

The President’s answer to my question in parliament today was – with due respect to him – disgraceful.

He refused to withdraw his racist and wholly unjustifiable attack in ANC Today on Kathleen Cravero of UNAIDS and Charlene Smith, preferring instead to rant on about the stereotypes of black people that he believes whites harbor.
He refused to take personal charge of the failing campaign against HIV/AIDS in our country, and insisted that the government would do “nothing new” in its fight against the pandemic.
He refused to answer large parts of the original question, and evaded expressing himself on whether HIV causes AIDS.
The President today scorned an opportunity to redeem himself and his government in respect of its failure of leadership in the campaign against HIV/AIDS in our country. Indeed he avoided talking about HIV/AIDS at all.
Frankly, the President is clearly unable to lead the campaign against HIV/AIDS. The question is whether a person who cannot lead the country on an issue as central and critical as HIV/AIDS is the right person to lead the country at all.

Supplementary information for Question no. 2 from Mr R. Coetzee to the President of the Republic:

Rape statistics

According to government crime statistics, released in September 2004, there was a 17.8% increase in reported rapes between 1994/95 and 2003/04.

An ongoing Population Council survey of 3000 men and women in Gauteng, released in September 2004, showed that 21% of young men between 15 and 34 believe that a flirting woman wants sex. [The Citizen 5 October 2004]

Another survey of young men in Gauteng, released in 2000, found that one in four young men claimed to have had sex with a woman without her consent by the time he had reached 18. [Sunday Times 25 June 2000]

A study of violence against women in three provinces found that between 19% and 28% of women had been subjected to physical violence by a current or ex-partner. [MRC News, vol.32 No.3 June 2001]

. A Cape Town survey found that 41% of men reported having physically abused a female partner in the ten years before the study. [MRC News, vol.32 No.3 June 2001]

Studies on adolescent sexuality show that one third of teenage girls experience forced sexual initiation. [MRC News, vol.32 No.3 June 2001]

An Medical Research Council study found that 15% of men reported having raped or attempted to rape their wife or girlfriend during the ten years prior to the study. [MRC News, vol.32 No.3 June 2001]

So common is unwanted sex in South Africa, that research has shown people to confine the use of the word `rape’ to use in describing acts of strangers. [MRC News, vol.32 No.3 June 2001]

In a study based on a survey of nearly 300 000 children aged 10-19 in 1418 South African schools, published in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal, it was found that:. [Cape Argus 19 October 2004] - Raping “someone you know” was not seen as sexual violence, nor was “unwanted touching”.

- Just less than half the children believed that girls mean yes when they say no.

- More than a quarter believe that girls enjoy rape.

- About 11% of boys and 4% of girls claimed to have forced someone else to have sex – and of these children, nearly 665 of the boys and nearly three quarters of the girls had themsevles been forced to have sex.

- Children who had been forced to have sex were more likely to say that they would intentionally spread HIV.

AIDS infection statistics
The 14th annual HIV and Syphilis Seroprevalence Survey shows that although infections are not increasing as rapidly as they were in the 1990s, the epidemic has still not levelled off. 27.9% of pregnant women attending antinatal clinics were HIV-positive in 2003, in comparison to 26.5% in 2002. [www.doh.org.za]
The government’s plan for HIV/AIDS treatment and care, published last November, estimated that between 400 000 and 500 000 South Africans were at an advanced stage of HIV and would benefit from AIDS drugs. [www.doh.org.za]
Estimates by the Bureau for Market Research suggest that HIV could be responsible for 5m deaths by 2011 and 9-10m by 2021. The total number of AIDS-related deaths was expected to exceed 500 000 a year between 2007 and 2011. [Bureau of Market Research, Unisa: A Projection of the South African Population 2001 to 2021

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