Pretoria - North West Premier Thandi Modise has condemned in the strongest terms the alleged rape of a 4-year-old girl from the Tlhabane village outside Rustenburg.
Modise has called for an in-depth investigation that will ensure the speedy arrest of the callous perpetrator responsible for the incident.
According to police, the girl's mother had rushed the child to a doctor after noticing that something was wrong while bathing the child on Friday afternoon. She had collected the child from the local creche earlier in the day.
An incident of rape was confirmed after an examination and a case was opened.
"When the scourge of sexual offences against women reaches infants, toddlers and young girls, every parent who has a child should be worried that the scourge has reached unacceptable level and proportion," said Modise.
She reiterated the call for a partnership between police, crime prevention structures, churches, faith-based organisations, women organisations, non-government organisations and other civil society organisations to be strengthened to combat the scourge of sexual offences against women and girl children.
Modise appealed to women not to leave their girl children with strangers, visit taverns and other drinking places at night, walk alone at night, ask or accept lifts from strangers.
