Sex vs rape: Ngcukaitobi's ruling sparks outrage

The controversial court judgment on the issue of sexual consent could undermine South Africa’s quest to assert the human rights of women, according to a legal expert.

This comes after acting Eastern Cape High Court Judge Tembeka Ngcukaitobi overturned the conviction of a former paramedic who was found guilty of raping his girlfriend because, by agreeing to oral sex, Ngcukaitobi ruled, she had tacitly agreed to penetrative sex. She was a virgin.

Ngcukaitobi set aside Loyiso Coko’s seven-year sentence, saying that the findings of the Makhanda Regional Court were “erroneous”. That court had found Coko guilty of raping his girlfriend, a Rhodes University master’s student, on July 1 2018.