Hon Chairperson and hon members, we often hear that the rate of sexual offences in South Africa is among the highest in the world. The horrendous rapes reported in the media recently have pushed us even higher up on this scale. It almost seems unreal that a young South African woman can be gang-raped, horrendously mutilated and murdered. Approximately two weeks ago, we woke to the tragic news that a woman had been gunned down by her boyfriend on Valentine's Day, of all days.
The increase in the extremely violent rape and abuse of both young and old, boys, girls and women in South Africa raises serious concerns about how we as citizens of this country perceive each other and the amount of respect that we have for each other. On 16 December 2007, this Parliament enacted the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, which has been referred to by the hon Minister, to deal harshly with sexual offences. Despite this piece of legislation and this important achievement, sexual offences seem to be on the rise in this country.
Anene Booysen's unspeakable rape and murder and the tragic death of Reeva Steenkamp have brought this subject of gender-based violence to the fore because of the extremely violent nature of their deaths. However, there are thousands of victims out there we never hear about, whose cases slip between the cracks of the justice system.
These tragic incidents clearly show that there is something wrong with our men, who appear prone to anger and violence against women. They also highlight the fact that gender-based violence cuts across racial, cultural and religious barriers. As one of our sister opposition parties put it recently in this House, "It seems we are a nation at war with itself." Those are the words of the hon Rev Meshoe.
The UDM believes that we need to prioritise sexual offences, both in word and deed, if we are to arrest this problem. In this regard, we were very happy to hear that government is in talks with the judiciary to have sexual offences cases placed on a prioritised roll. We should adopt a zero- tolerance approach towards any form of violence against women. Criminals should face harsh sentences, and on the other hand, government must bolster programmes that support the victims. I thank you.