Families Must Speak Up On Abuse

South Africa will not defeat gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) unless families speak openly with their children and report abuse without fear, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has warned.

Addressing residents at a Community Outreach Imbizo and Pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) community activation at the Dulcie September Civic Hall in Athlone, Western Cape, Kubayi said incidents of sexual violence must never be hidden or treated as “private” matters.

“When something like this happens, we don’t sit on it and hide it. There cannot be a debate when there is rape… it is a crime,” she said.

Kubayi stressed that parents have both a legal and moral duty to report child sexual abuse, including teenage pregnancies involving minors. She emphasised that a child cannot legally consent to sex and that pregnancy involving an underage child amounts to statutory rape.

“There is no 11-year-old who can give consent to sex. The age of consent is clear in the law. When a child becomes pregnant, it is statutory rape,” she said.

The Minister urged families to act immediately by seeking medical care and reporting cases to the police. She added that teachers and community members share the same responsibility to protect children and report abuse.

Kubayi also raised concerns about cases where families conceal teenage pregnancies after accepting financial settlements from perpetrators. She warned that such deals protect offenders and expose other children to harm.

“You may spend that R50 000 and it will be finished, but you have a child who is destroyed for life. Once you do that, the perpetrator moves from this child to another,” she said.

Kubayi said perpetrators must be held accountable regardless of their status in a household, including if they are breadwinners. She added that abuse affects both girls and boys, calling on civil society and community activists to help fight what she described as a growing pandemic.

Government, she said, has amended legislation and is considering further reforms, including allowing the publication of convicted offenders’ names to prioritise victims over perpetrators