SA CRIME QUARTERLY No 12 JUNE 2005 31 L ittle is known about rape involving multiple perpetrators in South Africa. This article reports on the results of a quantitative analysis of 162 rapes (both attempted and completed) reported at six police stations in Johannesburg during 1999 and involving two or more perpetrators. It outlines a variety of features associated with such rapes and explores what differences, if any, exist between rapes involving one assailant and those with multiple assailants. Some recommendations aimed at combating gang rape are also made. W hat we know about gang rape in South Africa Approximately one in 10 sexual assaults reported in the USA involves multiple perpetrators. 1 In comparison, Statistics South Africa’s national Victims of Crime survey estimated that 12% of rapes reported in their study involved two or more perpetrators. 2 Another study of 1,401 rapes registered between 1996–1998 at Hillbrow Hospital, Lenasia South Hospital and Chris Hani Baragwaneth Hospital (CHB) found 27% of cases to have involved two or more perpetrators. 3 Both sets of writers caution against generalising their findings, however. Statistics South Africa notes that not only was their sample size small, but the study was also designed to be a general survey on crime rather than a study about rape specifically. Swart et al’s study required staff at the three health facilities to complete data collection sheets for each rape survivor examined. Reluctance on the part of the staff to do so resulted in the uneven inclusion of cases at the three sites. Both studies, then, may well have underestimated the incidence of gang rape. The proportion of gang rapes that are not reported to police is also unknown. CIETafrica’s research in the south of Johannesburg found that women were considerably less likely to report gang rape than single perpetrator rape. In their study, only 30% of women who were gang raped reported the attack to the police compared to the approximately 70% of women who reported being raped by one perpetrator. 4 Information about what motivates men to rape in pairs or groups is no less scanty. Anecdotal evidence suggests gang rape may be used as a form of punishment by the friends or acquaintances of men whose girlfriends are suspected or known to have other partners. 5 Other writers have suggested that it may be used to put ‘unattainable’ women in their place. 6 In the Lisa Vetten and Sadiyya Haffejee Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation lvetten@csvr.org.za GANG RAPE A study in inner-city Johannesburg A study of gang rape cases reported to police in inner-city Johannesburg in 1999 – although fairly dated – provides new insights into a disturbing phenomenon. The most striking thing about these rapes is their predatory nature. Typically, groups of men either lie in wait for their victims, or actively drive around looking for someone to abduct. The attacks are also brazen and violent: women are confronted in public spaces, and the use of force increases with the number of perpetrators involved in the rape.