New child rapes fuel S. Africa crisis

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- At least 16 more child rapes have been reported across South Africa over the weekend as a spate of similar attacks in recent weeks threatens to plunge the country into civil crisis.

A furious mob beat and stoned a man on Sunday after he allegedly raped a 10-year old girl in a South African township, local police said.

The crowd of about 200 people threw stones at the man and beat him with sticks after the girl's mother found out about attack, which took place in her home in the early hours of Sunday morning, and told neighbours to call police.

A police spokeswoman said the girl was asleep when she was woken and attacked by her mother's boyfriend.

"She screamed for help but her mother had been drinking and she did not wake up," the spokeswoman for the south eastern Uitenhage area police told Reuters.

"The man then said he would give the girl 10 rand ($1) to be quiet about what had happened but she refused," the spokeswoman added. The man will appear in court on Monday.

In a separate incident, two men were arrested on Sunday afternoon for allegedly raping a five-month old girl in Johannesburg.

The cases are the latest in a growing number of child rapes, which are fuelled by a myth that having sex with a virgin will protect a man from AIDS or even cure him of the incurable disease.

Local newspapers reported at least two infant-rape incidents last weekend, including one involving an eight-month-old baby in the Western Cape province.

Last week, South Africa's largest newspaper says the country is facing a state of emergency.

"South Africa's infants are under siege. Now is the time for President Thabo Mbeki to break his silence on the abomination destroying not only the country but eating away at our nation's soul," the Sowetan newspaper said in a front page editorial on Monday.

The sexual abuse of toddlers was thrown into the spotlight by the alleged gang rape of a nine-month-old baby girl by six men.

Thousands marched in Cape Town last month to protest against sexual violence, with many calling for the death penalty for the six men accused of raping the baby girl.