The Minister for Women, Children and People with disabilities , Lulu Xingwana , expressed shock and utter disappointment with regard to the latest incident of the rape of a one month old baby and a two year old girl by their father in Thohoyandou, Limpopo.
“On Saturday, 2 November 2013, South Africa celebrated National Children’s day. It is sad that we celebrated this day against the backdrop of increases in abuses, violence, brutal murders and rapes of our children.
"In the past few weeks we have recorded cases of children dying at the hands of their parents through poisoning, brutal assaults, brutal murders and also at the hands of their teachers, rapes and the involvement of professionals such as doctors and teachers in child trafficking and child pornography syndicates.
"Something somewhere is indeed wrong with and in our society, that our children are not protected by the people they trust the most, parents, and so forth. As communities, as parents, as professionals, together, we have to reflect and identify causes that lead to these heinous crimes and prevention strategies to stop these atrocities from happening.
"We therefore appeal to the community to remain calm and allow the police and the courts i.e. the criminal justice system, to do their work. The perpetrator has been arrested and therefore we have a responsibility to support the children as much as we can,” says Minister Xingwana.
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