Chief Justice Mandisa Maya decries failure to identify perpetrator in rape case of 7-year-old EC girl
Chief Justice Mandisa Maya says the failure to identify a perpetrator in the rape of a seven-year-old Matatiele girl exposes the weaknesses of the country’s judicial system.
Addressing a conference of women judges from around the world in Cape Town on Wednesday, Maya said while this case has sparked national outrage, the country’s crime statistics point to the likelihood of many more such cases that don’t get reported or get the same attention.
Chief Justice Mandisa Maya
The International Association of Women Judges is meeting under the theme of using their leadership roles to eradicate gender-based violence (GBV).
Maya says South Africa’s staggering GBV statistics of more than 20,000 domestic cases reported in the last three months of last year alone show the plague is far from over.
She says the sexual violence case of a young Eastern Cape school girl, which has grabbed national attention, reveals the flaws in the criminal justice system.
“The confusion that surrounds this rape incident which apparently occurred a whole five months ago in October 2024, and the dismaying fact that the perpetrator remains unidentified to date, is a sobering reminder of the challenges and weaknesses in our justice systems.”
Maya has appealed to women in the judiciary to use their skills to address the problems.
“We have a duty to keep advocating and agitating to end this menace.”
The gathering will also be discussing gender diversity and inclusion in the judiciary, workplace safety for judicial officers and sexual harassment in the workplace.
