Child (3) raped, fed with rat poison

Mankala villagers who witnessed some of the horrific abuse suffered by the little girl, yesterday said they wanted the grandmother, identified as Ms Zambia Moyo, her sister Sizwile and the son who is said to be about 14 years old, banished from the village.
Those who saw the child’s body before it was buried on Wednesday, said it was full of scars.
They said her head had bruises and she looked like she had been frequently whipped with an electric cord.
Villagers were so angry that they reportedly refused to eat or drink anything at the funeral.
The area’s councillor, Councillor Sinikiwe Moyo, reportedly had to restrain villagers who wanted to mete out instant justice on the trio.
A member of the village child protection committee, Mrs Ntombizodwa Dube (62), wept openly as she narrated the child’s ordeal.
“The girl’s mother went to South Africa last year. Her grandfather, who had married Zambia, took her in. She came to live with them in November. The girl was a big, beautiful light-skinned child who was the envy of villagers,” said Mrs Dube, stifling a sob.
She said she first heard of the girl’s abuse in January, but successive deaths at the village kept her from attending to the issue.
“When I finally visited the child two weeks ago, both her hands were broken from being repeatedly assaulted with a log by Zambia and Sizwile. A girl who was at the homestead said they beat up the child because she would soil her blankets and then eat the faeces,” she said.
Other villagers, however, said the girl was regularly beaten up and forced to eat her faeces by the two.
“I reported the matter to Clr Moyo, notified officials at Maphisa District Hospital and reported the abuse to the police,” said the emotional Mrs Dube.
She said when Clr Moyo visited the child, she was gravely ill.
“The councillor rushed her to Maphisa District Hospital where she died on arrival. As parents, we are really hurt by this thing that happened under our noses and we feel we have lost dignity as a community,” said Mrs Dube.
A neighbour said the post-mortem revealed that the toddler had been sexually abused and fed with rat poison.
Her body had turned black. The grandson admitted that he had raped her on a number of occasions. Early this year, her abdomen swelled up due to the rape and she could not pass urine. One of our neighbours pressed her abdomen with her fingers and pus came out through her sexual organ,” said the neighbour.
A number of villagers said they suspected that Zambia poisoned the child to hide evidence of her abuse.
“We do not want this evil woman at our village. We are surprised that the police detained them at Gwanda and released them. Maybe they have not yet seen the postmortem report,” said Ms Marcelene Ngwenya.
“Either these people are insane or they are possessed. I do not think anyone in their right senses could have done what they did. Imagine, Zambia is pregnant, what would she do if someone treated the child she will have, so cruelly?” asked one of the villagers.
They said the child’s mother arrived from South Africa on Wednesday and had to be dragged away by her uncles when she wanted to assault Zambia.
“They whisked her away to Dry Paddocks. I feel very sorry for the poor woman,” said a visibly angry villager.
Contacted for comment Zambia said her son was the one who forced the child to eat faeces.
“It was Sizwile who used to beat her up. I only did it occasionally as her grandmother to discipline her. She broke her hands when she fell from a tree last year and I treated her with traditional herbs,” she said.
She said she did not know who had sexually abused her granddaughter as she only heard about it from nurses at the hospital.
Zambia also said she was not aware that the child had been poisoned.
A comment could not be obtained from the police spokesperson for Matabeleland South, Inspector Tafanana Dzirutwe.
He said the telephones at Kezi Police Station were not working.
“We are making frantic efforts to get the story from Kezi. Try to phone later,” said Insp Dzirutwe.