This Day in History: 23 August 2006
The Simelela Rape Survivors Centre in Cape Town reported that almost half of the rapes in Cape Town's Khayelitsha township involved girls under fourteen, with the youngest survivor aged one and the oldest a grandmother aged seventy-six. From August 2005 to July 2006 the Centre treated 743 rape cases, an average of two to three a day.
The Simelela Rape Survivors Centre was a response to the high degree of sexual violence against women and children in South African townships. Simelela provides medical care and psychosocial support and has integrated with other service providers to offer forensic examination and police assistance to rape survivors in a single location. Khayelitsha has one of the highest rates of rape cases in South Africa. It is estimated that 1 in 3 females will be raped in their life time in this township.