Infant rape crisis jolts South Africa: 21,000 incidents in 2000: "Raping babies does not cure AIDS"

CNN ^ | December 11, 2001 | Charlayne Hunter-Gault

[Tuba-Dude]

The only reason I'd support modern American-based schools overseas is to teach these morons common sense. Even if raping an infant really did cure AIDS, you'd have to have one helluva sick mind to do such a thing. People who commit such disgusting crimes should be lined up and shot.

[David Lane]

'AIDS' is a myth and so we must expect one mad idea to lead to other mad ideas. The whole idea that some wonder virus can cause 29 completely unrelated diseases could only have come from a scientist already convicted of medical malpractice (Robert Gallo).

The time has come to say 'NO MORE' to this utter AIDS rubbish.

See the Robert Gallo section at:-

http://www.aidsRC.org

[Prodigal Son]

Hopefully if you travel there this winter, you won't bring an infant or young child with you!

I trade emails with people from South Africa on a weekly basis and have done so for the last three years. Nothing they've ever said has led me to believe that it was greatly worse than it was when I was there. I wouldn't hesitate to take my child with me to South Africa.

[backhoe]

Sadly indexing....

[Cuttnhorse]

I trade emails with people from South Africa on a weekly basis...

So do I...and everyone I talk to wants OUT!!
I suggest you read the thread about the priest who was murdered recently.

[monocle]

A 5-month-old girl was the latest victim. Two male suspects -- one 17, the other 24 -- were charged with the crime.

My logic fails me. If sex with a virgin is meant to be a cure for AIDS, how does the second rapist justify his act?

[Cuttnhorse]

LOL! Now why didn't I think of that??

Cheers from Chile

[Constitution Day]

My wife was born in SA. She got her US citizenship in 1997.

We last visited in November 1999 and spent a month there.
We were able to go to Kruger National Park, Cape Town, Hermanus & the wine country, among other places.

It's an amazingly beautiful country, but incredibly dangerous as well.
I believe it has the highest murder rate in the world.
Rapes, carjackings, beatings, etc., are very common.

That having been said, I never once felt as though we were in danger during the whole time we were there, even in and around Johannesburg.
My sister- and brother-in-law live there and were with us for the whole month.
I guess that just like some areas here in the US, knowing where NOT to go is crucial.

The Boer War is something I don't know a whole lot about.
We did see some places out in the Transvaal (now called "Mpumalanga") where battles were fought, and saw a replica of the "Long Tom" cannon.

Regarding books on South Africa, have you read Jock of the Bushveld?
It's kind of a "man and his dog" book, and written in the late 1800's or early 1900's, but a good read nonetheless.

Finally, let me say that, regardless of what others say, not ALL the black South Africans are bad people.
Some of the kindest people we met were out in the very rural areas.
Yes, there are some real monsters there, as evidenced by this thread, but to lump them all in the same group is just silly.

It is probably "lost", as you say, unless the country shapes up fast.
Judging from the past history of the ANC, this is quite unlikely.

[Constitution Day]

What are you - the Star Trek philosopher?
Bwahahaha!!!

P.S. - The fact that "spock said this during Kirk's court-martial" has ZERO significance to me.

[Prodigal Son]

So do I...and everyone I talk to wants OUT!! I suggest you read the thread about the priest who was murdered recently.

I have read that story. Was this the first time in history a priest has been killed? Look, I have lived in South Africa. It isn't as bad as you would imagine from reading the gory stories about it. If people from Europe only read about the murder stories in the States- they'd never want to go to America.

Here's a snippet from an email from a friend of mine in South Africa I got from her today. I asked her specifically because of some of the comments on this forum if it was any worse than it was when I was there (bold areas mine):

...to be honest with you, I have not been
> the least affected by crime in this country (touch wood!). Yes, there is a
> lot of child rape going on at the moment, but one of the reasons for this,
> is that the uneducated black man believes that sex with a virgin or child
> will stop him from getting AIDS, or even heal him if he has it already. The
> child rape has been happening in the rural areas, where the AIDS education
> is not as great as in the urban areas. To the average man on the street,
> life goes on as normal, no I have NEVER seen a drive by shooting, nor have I
> been involved in anything remotely dangerous. My boyfriend is a cop in the
> dog unit, so he sees a lot more than I do, and yes, there are a lot of house
> breakings, hijackings etc, but no more than before. I don't feel the least
> bit uncomfortable living in this country, I am perfectly happy. The weather
> is perfect (as you can remember), we have a beautiful countryside and I
> think that one has to be aware of what is happening, but I am definately not
> paranoid whenever I go out anywhere...
> I do know of a lot of people who are leaving, I am actually in the process
> of buying a house from a couple who are emigrating to go to New Zealand, but
> on the other side of the coin, I know a lot of people who are coming back to
> SA, I know of 4 definate people who have had enough of the UK and are coming
> home, and a good couple of people who will be back before the end of next
> year...

I know that there are obviously "bad" areas, which the normal person will
> not venture into, but where I live, I can honestly say, that I have not been
> personally affected by crime. Leaving this country has not even entered my
> mind

Now, I have to add this. I figured from a lot of people's reactions on this forum I must have forgotten what South Africa was like so I asked my wife if she enjoyed it and she agreed that it was very nice to live there- she particularly enjoyed the freedom of living there (she's German) and we both strongly agreed that we much preferred living in South Africa than living in France and I must add, I think I prefer it to the UK. The vast majority of South Africans I talked to wished to continue living in their home. I also have to say this- a lot of S Africans find the living in Europe/America to be too "soft".

Look, think about this: there was a time when the interior of our country was chock full of "godless savages" who killed, scalped, stole women into slavery, tortured yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure there were a lot of people back then that could simply NOT understand why anyone would want to leave the civilization of the East Coast to go into the unknown of the interior where there was no civilization. And yet today we applaud those earlier pioneers and settlers who moved into the great unknown and carved civilization out of it. There are just certain people who cannot stand to be in civilization too long and yearn to get out there in the midst of the danger and conquer it. That's what draws many people to Africa and that is what drew me. Coming back to Europe was a bit of a comedown from Africa- it was somehow too mundane. I appreciate that not everyone wants to leave the safety and security of a civilized nation but for some people it is almost a calling. Think about soldiers. Looked at in one perspective you would think that soldiers would have to be incredibly stupid or savage to agree to a job that has a good chance of seeing them killed with incredible ugliness. Yet, we have men in Afghanistan doing that very thing right now and we applaud them even if we wouldn't be willing to do it ourselves.

There's a lot of ugliness in South Africa that's for sure- but there's a lot of beauty in it too and I thoroughly enjoyed living there and put it higher up on the list than a lot of "civilized" places. To each his own.

[Saundra Duffy]

I just had to read this. (I feel sick.)

[Razz Barry]

I wondering the same.