adminRecent reports of an increase in cases of sexual abuse of the girl child are quite worrying as hardly a day passes without such cases being reported. We learn that sexual abuse is so rampant that a woman is sexually abused every 90 minutes in the country.
These are quite scary statistics, and one of the major concerns is that behind these statistics are shattered lives that are smothered by the psychological impact of the abuse while many of the perpetrators roam freely.
While many measures and interventions to protect the girl child are in place, it is common knowledge that border jumping by thousands of youths into neighbouring South Africa and Botswana mostly predispose the girl child and sometimes even married women to such abuse by syndicates operating along our borders, if not their very companions they will be crossing the borders with.
Beitbridge Senator Cde Tambudzani Mohadi was reported at the weekend as saying that the girl child was exposed to HIV due to rampant human trafficking by a notorious syndicate in Beitbridge. She noted that the illegal crossing points were being used by smugglers and human traffickers.
Senator Mohadi was contributing to debate on the findings of a thematic committee on peace and security on the status of the country’s borders, human trafficking and smuggling. There have been reports of border jumpers being deported back into the country but there is “an industry” of people that facilitate the illegal trade in cigarettes and assisting people cross into South Africa at undesignated points along the crocodile infested Limpopo River.
What is even more worrying is that due to the promise of a better life or challenge of poverty, many young people drop out of school and cross into neighbouring South Africa, thereby exposing themselves to the unscrupulous operators that control the illegal crossing points.
The porous borders, she noted, were a threat to the welfare of the girl child since they made these vulnerable to abuse by their so-called helpers at crossing points. “You find that the girl child that we are talking about mostly, when they go to cross these rivers, the first port of call when they get to the river there should be somebody who should assist them to cross the river and this someone who assists this girl to cross the river, the girl has to fall in love with him or be raped because she will not be having money to pay the person who will assist her to cross the river,” said Cde Mohadi.
Sen Mohadi’s narration of events around the process of border jumping leave us in no doubt that she is aware of what she is talking about. These syndicates that prey on young girls appear immune to arrest largely because most of the cases of rape are not reported.
There is serious under-reporting because these syndicates are feared, worse still because after the border rape the girls are raped by those that accommodate them while they look for jobs and even at the farms where they seek employment.
It is even more difficult for married women who find it difficult to tell their husbands that they would have been violated just as it is equally difficult for young girls who run away from home heading for South Africa.
We believe border security should be tightened while serious educational campaigns targeted at the youths are required to dissuade them from putting their lives in danger through border jumping. It has also been observed that most of the abuse is perpetrated by people that are known to the victims hence a strategy to spread awareness on the dangers posed by relatives and friends, and the importance of reporting cases of abuse to break the cycle of abuse at the hands of a few individuals sometimes.
Concerted efforts to curb human trafficking through stiffer sentences for those caught should be made as well as empowerment initiatives such as skills training in the districts so that our youth find something to sustain themselves instead of crossing borders to provide cheap labour.
Even within our borders there is a growing practice of hiring underage and underprivileged children from certain disadvantaged districts and these are to be found working in towns and even rural areas as poorly paid and commonly abused domestic workers.
This must come to an end as it also constitutes serious abuse of human rights.
Online Reporter