People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) is concerned that raped women are choosing counselling rather than reporting the crime to their local police station.
The women’s rights organisation says it’s worrying that only one in 25 women in the country report being raped.
They say the 4.4 percent decline in sexual crimes as reported in the past financial year’s crime statistics is misleading since rape survivors are choosing not to report the crime.
POWA executive director Nhlanhla Mokoena blamed the current state of affairs on the slow justice system and unskilled police officers who are unable to handle rape cases.
“We know that those women who do not report rape are saying that going through the system is just like being raped again, because cases take long to be prosecuted and if they are prosecuted most of the time the maximum sentence is not applied.
“It is better for them to come to POWA for counselling and deal with their emotional issues than going through the system,” she said.
Mokoena has also called for harsher sentences for rapists.
“So the message we are sending is that yes, rape is a criminal offense but rape is not a criminal offense that warrants that the perpetrators getting a maximum sentence,” she said.
