Hon Chair, the response to hon member Dudley's question is as follows. The hon member's question is indeed very difficult to answer in this form as it stands right now.
I must say that we sought information from various sources regarding this matter of rape as indicated by the hon member. We sought information from organisations such as the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, the Human Sciences Research Council, HSRC, Childline, the Child Welfare of South Africa, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health.
When dealing with this horrendous issue of the rape of children, the police and health care providers do not ask victims why they were raped. Therefore, there is no reliable statistics on this issue so we do not have data on whether there has been an increase or, for that matter, even a decrease in the rape of children, which is informed by the myth that it will cure perpetrators of HIV and Aids.
I'm also aware that this phenomenon was rumoured to be occurring sometime around the year 2000. However, we can only assume that through the rapid expansion of our antiretroviral programme - which, by the way, is indeed the biggest in the world - and our awareness campaign, these assumptions ended or died down.
These campaigns were run with stakeholders and partners to address this myth. People were also made aware of the facts about HIV and Aids and the benefits of taking treatment.
Again, I stress that this is an assumption since the cause of rape is not something that people generally report on or are even asked to report on, by the way. We can only reliably report on this issue if and when a survey of perpetrators can be done, but, for now, we haven't done it. I am referring to a survey of perpetrators because asking victims about the issue turns to subject the survivors of sexual violence to secondary victimisation, which we always seek to prevent.
Hon member, given my first response on the first part of the question, I am sure you will agree with me that Question 2 and 3 then fall away. Thank you.