| (1) | Persons who may not lawfully marry each other on account of consanguinity, affinity or an adoptive relationship and who unlawfully and intentionally engage in an act of— |
| (b) | sexual violation with each other where one of them is a child, and the act of sexual violation was of such a nature that it was reprehensible for the adult person to have acted in that manner under the circumstances concerned, |
are, despite their mutual consent to engage in such act, guilty of the offence of incest.
[Section 12(1) substituted by section 4 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2021 (Act No. 13 of 2021), GG45823, dated 28 January 2022 - effective 31 July 2022 as per Proclamation Notice R.79, GG47105, dated 29 July 2022]
| (2) | For the purposes of subsection (1)— |
| (a) | the prohibited degrees of consanguinity (blood relationship) are the following: |
| (i) | Ascendants and descendents in the direct line; or |
| (ii) | collaterals, if either of them is related to their common ancestor in the first degree of descent; |
| (b) | the prohibited degrees of affinity are relations by marriage in the ascending and descending line; and |
| (c) | an adoptive relationship is the relationship of adoption as provided for in any other law. |
(3)
| (b) | The National Director of Public Prosecutions may not delegate his or her power to decide whether a prosecution in terms of this section should be instituted or not. |
