admin
The family institution has the responsibility of not just fending for the children but also providing protection. It is the parents, guardians and other relatives who have the responsibility of ensuring good upbringing of children. Family elders apart from providing for the family are supposed to inculcate in young children moral values.
The children therefore look up to the elders for guidance and material support. When in the confines of the family, children should feel secure. In the African set up, the extended family is regarded as just one unit and this means that elders of the whole clan are supposed to shoulder the responsibilities of parenthood.
It is therefore disturbing when members of the family turn monsters threatening the livelihood of children. Many children today are being raped and abused by family members. In some cases fathers have raped their own daughters and stepmothers have sexually abused their stepsons.
Most of the cases go unreported as family members go out of their way to conceal the abuses in order to protect the family name. It is a fact that the abuse of a child by a relative brings shame to the whole family but that is no excuse to protect the abusers. The increasing number of girls being raped by relatives is a worrying trend and there is urgent need to find a solution.
Rape victims are traumatised the rest of their lives and the situation is worse when the perpetrator is a close relative. Rapists and other child abusers have no place in our society and the only way to put a stop to this is to expose the monsters.
The media, the police and our courts have been doing a splendid job to fight this social evil but as long as the family institution prioritises protecting the family name at the expense of the abused victim, not much can be achieved. Those that abuse children should be considered as outcasts that have no place in the family set up.
The family should abhor child abuse in whatever form and it should be the responsibility of each and every family member to expose the abusers. Recently a Bulawayo court sentenced two women to nine months’ imprisonment each for concealing the rape of their minor cousin.
In our opinion the sentence was lenient given the fact that the two women sacrificed the girl’s life for payment of $100 a month. Those that protect abusers should be punished severely in order to send a very clear message that they are equally guilty.
Children on their part should be equipped with skills to, not only detect abuse, but to also expose it. This is the only way to fight the concealment of abuse by family members. We want at this juncture to implore school authorities, the police and the community at large to step up campaigns against child abuse.
There have been numerous cases when after an address to pupils at a school by police, pupils have come out to confess that they have been abused. This is a confirmation that many of the children at times cannot detect abuse. The challenge to society is to once again make the family institution a safe environment for the children and this is only possible if all family members commit themselves to weed out child abusers within their midst.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter