Although more than half of all deponents (54.8 per cent) were women, only 43.9 per cent of women identified themselves as victims of abduction, torture or severe ill treatment.15 Still, this represented an increase in the percentage of self-proclaimed victims over the first five weeks of hearings that Ross’s study analyses, and can be attributed in part to the decision by the TRC to hold special women’s hearings. No member of the security forces or liberation movement applied for amnesty for rape or other sexual violations. This is probably because they assumed that rape would not fall within the guidelines, as an act had to not only have a “political” motive but also be performed “without malice”.