I wish to inform the Honourable Member that female genital mutilation is currently not defined in terms of the South African common or statutory law as a criminal offence.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, as well as the National Prosecuting Authority therefore do not have any such charges and convictions on its statistical databases. An accused person may however, be criminally charged with an offence, for example, of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, if female genital mutilation was inflicted. Such cases would however not be reflected separately in the statistical data bases.