The first national prevalence survey on child sexual victimisation in South Africa (2016) found that one in four adolescents has experienced some form of sexual victimisation in their lifetime. While surveys capture incidents not reported to authorities, there is still likely to be under-reporting given the sensitive nature of the issue.
Along with rape, sexual assault falls into the broad category of sexual offences. As with other sexual offences there are likely to be high levels of under-reporting on sexual assault, especially if there are no obvious signs of injury.
South Africa has high levels of reported rape, but the true extent of the problem is unknown. It is widely recognised that rape and other sexual offences are substantially under-reported.
Unlike kidnapping, abduction is a crime that is specific to children. It consists of removing a child from his or her guardian's care for the specific purpose of marriage or sexual intercourse with the child.