Mushrooming taverns and the use of whoonga (nyaope) have been blamed for the high incidence of rape in Nongoma, north of Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal .

This emerged as Shisuthi villagers protested outside the Nongoma Magistrate's Court, demanding that a 29-year-old rape suspect be denied bail. The man, also a local, is accused of raping and killing a 14-year old girl.

He faces charges of murder, rape and kidnapping.

Magistrate Thengamehlo Mtshali adjourned the matter to Thursday to allow the accused an opportunity to consult his legal attorney for bail application.

Yesterday, protesting villagers said incidents of rapes in which girls and the elderly were victims were escalating and most went unreported.

The teenager was on her way to a church gathering when she was attacked and dragged to a forest where she was repeatedly raped.

The suspect allegedly raped the teenager for two consecutive days before gorging her eyes out and strangling her to death.

Community policing forum (CPF) chairman Mntomuhle Khuzwayo said: "In a space of less than a month about four women have been victims of rape. The suspects are often under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Most of these incidents are not reported because there are no relevant structures such as psychologists to counsel rape survivors.

"Sometimes the two families - that of the victim and [of] the perpetrator - [come to] some kind of an agreement where the perpetrator's family agree to pay damages for the victim and as a result the case doesn't make it to court." He said the perpetrators would normally target young women they knew were virgins or attended the annual reed dance.

Khuzwayo said drug usecomplicated the CPF's war against crime.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said the suspect handed himself over to the police and offered to take them to the crime scene.