Hundreds march in Bulawayo to demand end to violence against women

Tafadzwa Chibukwa, Chronicle Reporter

HUNDREDS of Bulawayo residents, who included the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), prosecutors, women and child organisations, on Wednesday took to the streets in a march to mark 16 days of activism against Gender Based violence (GBV).

This year’s national theme is “All Lives Matter! End Gender-Based Violence Now!”

Speaking during the march, ZRP Bulawayo Women’s league chairperson, Chief Superintendent Lethiwe Mhandu said they could not sit and ignored the commemorations as they are also part of society.

“The rate at which gender-based crimes are increasing is quite alarming. As a province we are not spared from this pandemic of gender-based crimes of passion like rape, aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault among others, as police we envisage to create a crime free environment by arresting and prosecuting accused persons for the crimes of passion, drug dealing, human trafficking and other offences involving women and children.

“It is quite concerning that the people who are abusing women and children are people who are close to them or who share a relationship with them. This in most cases affects the proceedings of the case or even the rape case being reported to the police with regards that they might tarnish the image of the perpetrator or disrupt the relationship they would be having with the perpetrator,” said Sup Mhandu.

More to follow…