SA SUFFERS SCOURGE OF CHILD RAPES.

Chaos reigned in South Africa over the weekend as dozens more children were raped and abused across the country. A five-month-old baby became one of the latest victims, raped by two men in Joubert Park, Johannesburg. In the Free State, boys aged four, six and 10, were accused of gang-raping their seven-year-old friend near Harrismith. In another incident, a man allegedly paid eight young girls 50 cents each for showing him their private parts. Johannesburg police spokesman Captain Lungelo Dlamini said two men, aged 17 and 24, were arrested for the Joubert Park baby rape on Saturday night. Dlamini said the child was raped after her 24-year-old mother apparently left her alone inside a room in a building previously used as a cinema. "When the baby's mother returned... (she) discovered that the child was bleeding and rushed the baby to the hospital." The girl went to theatre on Saturday night in the Johannesburg Hospital for examination. The senior matron on call said she was in a stable condition, but was unable to say whether the girl had undergone an HIV test. Free State police spokeswoman Captain Veronica Ntepe said a woman, four teenagers, and ten children aged between six and 12, were sexually abused in several incidents in the Bethlehem area in the eastern Free State over the weekend. On Saturday, a seven-year-old girl in Intabazwe near Harrismith told her mother she had been raped by four boys -- two of them aged 10, the others four and six years old. The five of them were playing in the street when the four boys ordered her to lie on the ground. They took turns in raping her. Police said the boys would probably be arrested and be sent for counselling. In another incident, a man allegedly approached eight girls, aged between six and nine, who were playing at a site in Ladybrand. He ordered them to pull down their panties. He licked their private parts and masturbated on them. Each girl was then given 50 cents and the man walked away. Ntepe said the man was wearing black denim jeans, a blue shirt and white takkies. He is of average build, light in complexion and has grey hair. In another case, a 13-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised by his friend, aged about 15, who attempted to drown him afterwards. The incident happened on Friday around 8.30pm at a river between Petsana and Reitz. Also in the Reitz area, a 17-year-old girl was raped by two men at Bietjiewater picnic spot on Saturday. Two of her school friends followed her to the toilet and overpowered her. No arrests were made. On Friday, two friends aged 17 and 19, were allegedly raped by their boyfriends and two other men in Tebang Village, Makwane in the Qwa Qwa area. The two boyfriends, aged 18 and 22, were arrested. A 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her stepfather in Bereng township near Bethlehem on Friday. She reported the matter to the police and the man was arrested. In the ...