South Africa's education minister has been criticised for her remarks that "an educated man won't rape" while trying to explain the importance of education.

Minister Angie Motshekga told students on Monday that the more educated one was the more unlikely they were to be involved in bad deeds like rape.

The students could be heard disagreeing with her rape comment, to which she said she was disappointed that educated men could still be involved in criminal activities.

A section of her speech was shared online eliciting angry comments:

https://twitter.com/Newzroom405/status/1361245433281060865

https://twitter.com/Misaveni_/status/1361206913564897281

In a statement Ms Motshekga said her comments were taken out of context.

"Rape is indeed about power, hence the department has programmes to educate the boy child to appreciate the importance of how to deal with power relations between men and women from a young age... Men need to be educated about how to deal with power, patriarchy and negative or toxic masculinity. Educating men about power relations is also important in the fight against rape," the statement read in part.

In 2019 President Cyril Ramaphosa termed rape and sexual assault in the country as a "national crisis".

Some 40,000 rapes are reported every year, though this is thought to be only a fraction of the real total.