Rape, murder, violence and other offences don't have a face; they don't rely on the colour of the skin of the perpetrator or the victim.

Many users of social media were dumbfounded and surprised that the rapist who sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl in the toilets of a Pretoria restaurant is white and 20 years old.

I will not use the words "alleged to have raped the girl" like many journalists because I don't have a doubt in my mind that he did rape that child.

I fathom that journalists are guided by a code of conduct that requires them to refrain from making a judgment.

Indeed our environment is not safe.

This rapist has robbed this child of her innocence and engraved a permanent scar that will haunt her for the rest of her life. It is time for our judicial system to be brutally harsh when dealing with these rapists.

We should be putting aside race politics and doing something about the scourge of rape.

Our problems in a democratic South Africa are prodigious to be subjected and expected that one particular race could solve them. We must dialogue about them until we restore safety in our communities.

Sam Difoe Magana

Dennilton, Limpopo