Legislation on sex between minors criminalised normal behaviour

Legislation on sexual offenses, which criminalised a wide range of mutual consenting sex acts between minors, did not have the development of normal sexuality in mind.

This is the opinion of Dr Roelf Reyneke, Head of the Department of Social Work at the University of the Free State.

The legislation was yesterday declared invalid in the Northern Gauteng High Court in Pretoria by Judge Pierre Rabie.

He found that two sections of the Criminal Law Amendment Act (on sexual offenses and related matters) and the definition of 'sexual penetration' in this Act, cannot be reconciled with the Constitution.

This is because section 15 and 56(2)(b) criminalises a child (between 12 and 16) who carries out an act of consensual sexual penetration on another child (also between 12 and 16).

Teenage pregnancy is an incredibly big problem in SA, for which there may be many possible reasons.

Dr Reyneke says that it should be kept in mind that adolescents will experiment with their sexuality as a normal part of their development.

“The Act did not take in consideration the development of normal sexuality, and this resulted in the criminalisation of normal behaviour. This criminalisation of normal behaviour put social workers and other professionals, who provide services to the children, in an extremely difficult situation, because they were legally obliged to report sexual and certain non-sexual behaviour. It also meant that open discussions and guidance could not take place without the professional having to report the behaviour.”

Dr Reyneke says that people sometimes think this act would limit sex between teenagers, but statistics show that there were no decline in teenage pregnancies since the act came into effect.

“Should a social worker/teacher become aware that a child is sexually active, they can immediately start informing the child about the dangers thereof and motivate them to change their behaviour. Children, who know they are breaking the law, will make sure that adults do not find out about it, and this deprives educators of an opportunity to take preventive steps. The best manner in which to address the problem is to develop values and to ensure that young people have sufficient knowledge and that there are adults available to support and help them without being concerned that their good intentions may result in a criminal prosecution.”

For interviews please contact René-Jean van der Berg at 051 401 3185 or 083 645 5940 or email to vanderbergrj@ufs.ac.za.