South Africans have
expressed outrage over the spread of a video that allegedly shows a
teenaged girl being raped by a group of men.
It shows a 17-year-old, who is said to have the mental age of
a five-year-old, apparently being raped by seven men in the township of
Soweto.
The video, which shows the men laughing and joking, has been widely circulated on mobile phones and the internet.
Police have found the girl and charged eight people with kidnap and rape.
The girl went missing in March and her whereabouts were
unknown until reporters from the Daily Sun newspaper brought the video
to the attention of the police.
The paper reports that the video lasts just over 10 minutes
and the girl can be heard shouting "you are forcing me, you are forcing
me".
Authorities have warned anyone who has received a copy of the
video that they should delete it or risk being charged under the
country's sexual offences laws.
South Africa's minister for women and children, Lulu
Xingwana, issued a statement saying: "In addition to the painful ordeal
of rape the young woman was forced to endure, she is now subjected to a
second assault on her dignity (the video)."
The incident has highlighted the issue of rape in South
Africa. A recent survey suggested that more than a quarter of the
country's men had admitted raping a female.
About 66,000 rapes were reported in the country last year although experts say many victims remain silent.
