Closing arguments expected in Sibusiso Matshaya rape trial

Closing arguments are expected on Wednesday in the case against Sibusiso Matshaya who is accused of raping several women, including four school girls around Vereeniging in the Vaal.

The state says there’s DNA evidence linking Matshaya to the rapes.

He faces six rape charges and one of kidnapping.

Matshaya has denied all charges against him, claiming that some of the victims were his girlfriends.

The state says between 2016 and 2019, Matshaya would wait in open veldts in and around Tshepong and Roshnee and target women and young girls who were walking alone.

He would allegedly accost them, threaten them with a firearm or a knife and drag them into the bush before raping them.

On one day, four school girls, all aged 15 at the time, are believed to have been attacked while walking home from school.

However in his defence, Matshaya told the court the girls had approached him and suggested they all try the drug crystal meth which he had in his possession.

He denied sexually assaulting or raping them, saying he only had consensual sex with one of the victims, who is apparently his girlfriend, at a plot later on that day.

But the state maintains he kidnapped the girl, raped her and only released her the next day.

High rates of sexual crimes in SA

According to the 2020 World Population Review on Rape Statistics by country, South Africa has the highest rates of sexual violence in the world.

In the review, a survey conducted by the South African Medical Research Council showed that approximately one in four men surveyed admitted to committing rape.

In every 100 000 women, about 134 are raped.

The video below outlines some reason why women in the country don’t report sexual crimes or rape: