Editorial Comment: Child protection every parent’s responsibility

Narrating her story, the woman said the officer had given her a dollar to buy food while she was sitting in the charge office. “When I denied his sexual advances, the police officer wrestled with me arguing that I had to return his one dollar.He took advantage of the fact that I had disclosed that I had no other money for transport to return to Madziva.”

WHO will guard the children from their parents? The 20-year jail sentence imposed on a Masvingo man who raped his 15-year-old daughter over a period of two years should be applauded as it sends a strong warning to all other would-be child molesters.
On Wednesday we carried yet another article on the horrific statistics on child sexual abuse. ZRP Assistant Commissioner Isabella Sergio revealed that of the 3 421 rape cases reported countrywide between January and October this year, 2 405 of the victims were children.

Of the perpetrators 41 percent were neighbours and 27 percent were relatives encompassing parents and guardians.
In other words the danger to children is horrific because it is coming from that place they should call home.

Statistics the world over confirm this picture. It is believed that 9 out of 10 cases of child sexual abuse are perpetrated by someone with regular access to the child rather than a stranger.

Unfortunately it is not only the pervert parents and guardians who are the bad guys. Some non-rapist parents and guardians are not doing enough to keep their children safe from sexual predators.

In the above case it is fortunate that the perpetrator’s brother decided to blow the whistle on the abuse or it would have gone on forever.
It is the right of every child to be protected from harm. That means being a parent or a guardian goes beyond putting food on the table, paying school fees and providing physical shelter.

Protecting a child from harm is a key element that the law seems determined to let parents forget.
The Zimbabwean laws and legal system appear to be very lax in dealing with cases of negligence and thus abuse by parents and guardians.

Late last month the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Cde Oppah Muchinguri, blamed the escalating statistics on parent negligence saying parents were not giving due care to their children especially when it comes to protecting the girl child from abuse.

The recurrent cases which the media religiously reports on, tell the story. Parents and guardians are obviously not learning from the example of others.

Let it be clear that we are not suggesting that there be wholesale persecution of parents whose children have fallen victim to abuse. This would only rejuvenate the culture of keeping such incidents secret.

But we feel that it is time for the legal system to start protecting children from betrayal by those who should take care of them.
For example, the situation where parents leave young children unattended or in the custody of other minors cannot be countenanced.

We appreciate the fact that there are single parents who must work and bring up their children at the same time who may not afford formal child care and feel that they can make do with taking chances with a child’s safety.

We want to suggest that they become pro-active and consider other measures like creating revolving child care schemes where they take turns to look after each other’s children.

Once upon a time we did not need the state to look out for our children because we believed that it took a village to raise a child and every adult was a parent. But when parents are monsters, it is up to society and state to protect the child.