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Cape Town — Teachers and principals at schools in the Western Cape have revealed that a disturbing game is being played by schoolchildren called “rape, rape”.
In the game, boys chase and catch girls who are willing participants and then simulate rape with them. Once she had been “raped”, she was out of the game. The game ends when the last girl has been “raped”. There are fears that the game will normalise the violent act for children, a school governing body association told the Cape Times.

The provincial education department said it was horrified by news of the game and will launch an investigation. The Mitchells Plain School Governing Body Association said about 150 cases of rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment at primary and high schools in the area have been brought to its attention in the past year. There have been several cases recently of child on child rape. In one incident in March, a five-year-old girl was raped by Grade 2 boys outside her school in Mitchells Plain, Sapa reported.

This comes just days after Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga revealed that more than 300 teachers had been charged with sexually abusing girls over the past three years.

The Star also reported on Monday that a principal of a school in Orange Farm, south of Gauteng, was on the run after several pupils accused him of sexual harassment.

“Rape” games are not unique to South Africa though.

A Huffington Post report from March 2012 tells of a “rape tag” game being played at a Minnesota school that had left parents worried. In the game, the children “tag” each other by touching on their genitals. — News24