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“Men who have money should not find it easy to abuse women and children and pay them off to withdraw cases against them.” North West Premier Thandi Modise said in expressing shock at the high withdrawal rate of rape cases.

The annual crime statistic presented by Provincial Police Management to the Executive Council (Exco) at its forthnightly meeting held yesterday revealed that of the 3 959 cases reported across the province during the 2011/12 financial year, 801 cases were withdrawn by victims.

Premier Modise said that as a victim of rape during her teens, she knows too well that the pain of rape never goes away. She called on police to do everything in their power to ensure that perpetrators of this heinous crime do not get away scot free.

Exco called for an intensified campaign to discourage victims of sexual abuse from withdrawing cases to be embarked upon as part of moral regeneration and for outstanding rape cases to be pursued so that victims should find closure.