Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Chronicle Reporter
WOMEN and girls in Gwanda District are living in fear following a spate of rape cases perpetrated by machete gangs suspected to be illegal gold panners operating in the area.
In the most recent incident, an 11-year-old Colleen Bawn Primary School pupil was raped by a machete wielding man while on her way home from school.
This incident has caused widespread fear among parents who are now accompanying their children to and from school in groups. A number of women have had encounters with the gangs.
A woman was recently raped in daylight by a man armed with a machete in a bushy area in Gwanda’s low-density suburb.
Girls and women are now afraid to move around unaccompanied as a result of the increased cases of rape.
Councillor Mary Mpofu said there are children attending Colleen Bawn Primary School that stay in Capital Block 8 and Jeka Farm located about two kilometres from the school and have to pass through a bushy area risking being raped by the machete gangs.
“We have a serious challenge of machete gangs that are terrorising people and women and girls are at high risk. A number of women have either been raped, robbed or harassed by these gangs. A week ago, a pupil from Colleen Bawn Primary met a gang of men with machetes and they accosted her into the bush where one of them raped her while the others stood guard. They threatened to chop her head off if she resisted,” said Clr Mpofu.
She said the machete gangs were gold panners from other areas that operate in their area.
The gangs were also notorious for fighting locals over mining claims.
The village head of Capital Block, Ms Evans Majola, said parents with children at Colleen Bawn Primary School were now accompanying them to school and collecting them in the afternoon.
She said the rape of the 11-year-old girl had left parents terrified.
“The community isn’t safe and we fear for the children. Parents don’t feel safe anymore to send their children on errands or to allow them to go to school alone. Women also fear to move around unaccompanied and now move in groups,” said Ms Majola.
She said there was a need for police to tighten security and increase patrols in their area.
Gwanda One Stop Centre administrator Ms Amanda Ndebele said they had received a number of reports of women and girls being raped by machetes gangs in Gwanda Town and surrounding areas.
She said some of the women were raped in broad daylight.
“We have had cases of young girls and women coming to report being raped by these machete gangs,” said Ms Ndebele.
She said there was also an increase in cases of physical abuse between couples being reported, with gold panners being the main perpetrators.
She said One Stop Centre has been providing medical services to survivors of sexual abuse to prevent STIs and HIV/Aids infections as well as pregnancy.
“We have also recorded an increase in the number of men that come to report cases of abuse, which is a new development. Some of these men would have been sodomised while others would have been physically or emotionally abused by their partners,” she said. – @DubeMatutu
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