Justice Minister Jeff Radebe earlier this week said more than 30 000 new rape cases had been handled by the country?s courts between July 2008 and June 2009.

Radebe told parliament that during that period over 39 000 new cases appeared on the rolls of magistrates courts nation-wide.

Over 4 000 of these cases have been finalised, meaning that there is a conviction rate of less than 11 percent.

Almost a fifth of these new rape cases were reported and dealt with in Kwazulu-Natal.

The Western Cape had the second highest number of sexual assaults reported.

Most of the offences were perpetrated by young adults aged between 21 and 30.

The most recent crime statistics revealed sexual offences have increased by over 10 percent.