South African women's murder rate is world's highest

A woman is six times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner in South Africa than anywhere else in the world, a conference on Sexual Violence near Johannesburg was told on Wednesday. And most of their murderers were drunk and HIV-positive.

"Twenty-five percent of women in the general population (out of a total of 47-million people) and in 40% to 50% in the targeted studies have been victims of physical intimate partner violence," professor Rachel Jewkes of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative said in Benoni, Johannesburg on Wednesday. The conference was aimed at addressing and preventing sexual assault and violence. More likely to be HIV-positive She said that over 40% of men were violent towards their partner. There was also compelling evidence that women who were abused and men who abused them were more likely to be HIV-positive. "Women who have experienced physical violence from their partners are 54% likely to have HIV. Men who have perpetrated physical violence are more than twice (as) likely to have HIV," she said. South Africa also has the highest reported number of rapes in the country. The conference also heard that South Africa had the highest per capita alcohol consumption levels in the world. Perpetrators were very often drunk, as were the women victims. "Two thirds of women killed by intimate partners in the Western Cape were very drunk with a median blood alcohol level two times over the legal driving limit." The conference also heard that many harmful traditional beliefs and practices underscore violence and discrimination against South African girls. "Traditionally condoned forms of discrimination include: son preference as tradition; early and forced marriages; and female genital mutilation. see Up to 300 people are sacrificed every year in South Africa so that their body parts to be used in traditional "Muti" medicine. Most of these are young children, tortured to death. And more girls than boys are 'sacrificed': because of the belief propagated by traditional healers that raping virginal girls cures them of AIDS. "It's done while she's still alive because the more she screams, the more powerful the Muti's going to be," explains crime expert Kobus Jonker, gesturing at the picture of a mutilated six year old girl. He was the first South African to acknowledge Muti murders and has set up a special police unit to deal with it. But Muti murders are notoriously hard to prosecute. "My son will never sleep in peace," laments Salome Chokwe. Her ten year old boy, Sello, disappeared when out herding. By the time she found him it was too late. His hands, genitals, tongue and brain had been 'harvested' while he was still alive. see