Cape Town - The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) has officially laid a complaint with police regarding the ongoing sexual exploitation and abuse of minors in Parklands, Cape Town.
The organisation said it was reacting to a recent incident involving young girls who were allegedly brought to the area by foreign nationals who then sexually exploited the teens in exchange for money.
Sanco provincial co-ordinator Buntu Gwija said: “The ongoing sexual exploitation of young women in Parklands has been going on for way too long. We can’t be condoning or keeping silent while young girls are abused and exploited by individuals in the area.
“On behalf of all concerned civil society organisations, activists and government departments in support of our movements we have decided to lay charges against individuals who blatantly disregard our laws and are abusing minors daily.
“They are taking advantage of these young women’s vulnerability and perpetrating statutory rape because a young child under the age of 16 cannot consent to sex,” he said.
Gwija said laying a formal complaint with the police was but step one in the organisation’s plan to fight the sexual debauchery in Parklands. He said Sanco was in the process of engaging with several government bodies, and other Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in its mobilisation efforts to fight against sex predators in the community.
Police said they were yet to register a criminal case, but detectives were aware of the matter and currently looking into the circumstances surrounding the complaint.
In support of the movement, politicians and political parties have rallied behind the call for police to urgently investigate the case.
CSO, the South African Youth Council (SYC), in the Western Cape said that it was delighted to learn that community structures had formally laid a complaint, for investigation.
The organisation said it would be writing to the Western Cape Police Commissioner, pleading for police to provide resources and urgently attend to the investigation.
“Similarly, we will be exploring collaborations within our member organisations to roll out awareness campaigns and programmes around mental health, human trafficking, drug abuse and related matters. These programmes will be targeting adolescents,” SYC said.
The EFF in the Western Cape called on law enforcement agencies “to arrest these rapists who violate the bodies of young girls and women”.
The party said that to them “a rapist is a rapist, and a criminal is a criminal” and must be treated as such regardless of their nationality and social status.
The party also called on communities to rally together to protect young children from falling into the hands of predators who deliberately turn communities into human trafficking zones and sexual grooming quarters for men.