Sexual assault differs from rape in that rape involves unwanted penetration, while sexual assault involves other forms of unwanted sexual contact. The overall rate of sexual assault against children based on the 2016/17 crime data was
17 counts of sexual assault per 100, 000 children. This is much lower than the rate for rape, but it does not mean that there is less sexual assault against children; it is more likely to reflect the low levels of reporting of sexual assault to the police.
As in other countries, there are a large number of crimes that go unreported, either because of the sensitive nature of the crime or because of a lack of trust in the police and the child protection system more broadly. Sexual assault in particular is substantially under-reported, especially where there is little or no visible injury. The table below provides the rate of sexual assault against children across province, sex and age group in 2016/17.
The reported sexual assault rates in 2016/17 were highest in the Western Cape (47 sexual assaults per 100,000 children), followed by the Free State (26 sexual assaults per 100,000) and the Northern Cape (24 sexual assaults per 100,000). Rates were lowest in Limpopo (7 sexual assaults per 100,000) and Mpumalanga (8 sexual assaults per 100,000). Again, it is not clear how these sexual assault rates are affected by under-reporting.
Girls were more likely to be the victims of sexual assault than boys based on the reported data; and as with the rape rates, there appears to be an increase in the likelihood of experiencing sexual assault as children grow older.