Online Reporter
Peter Matika, [email protected]
PROMINENT Bulawayo businesswoman and founder of the Miss Rural Zimbabwe pageant, Sipho Mazibuko, is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow (Friday) for a routine remand hearing.
This follows her recent arrest and subsequent release on bail for attempting to hold an unsanctioned protest outside the Bulawayo magistrate’s court.
Mazibuko and seven other accomplices, Mr and Mrs Rural Zimbabwe title holders and aides, were arrested on July 24 and spent the night in jail, before their initial appearance in court the following day.
They appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Takudzwa Gwazemba, who granted them US$50 bail each.
On their arrest, the group was bundled into a police van after officers intervened and warned them against proceeding with the illegal demonstration.
Visibly distressed and assisted into the van due to a limp, Mazibuko said she was demanding justice for a 16-year-old girl allegedly raped multiple times by her uncle.
According to Mazibuko, the suspect, who is a cross-border truck driver, sexually abused his teenage niece under the guise of spiritually healing the girl’s sick mother.
The abuse, reportedly spanning several weeks, came to light in April after Mazibuko was tipped off by a whistle-blower from Mabheleni Village in Mbembesi, Matabeleland North.
She launched her informal investigations, working with police and mobilising her networks to gather evidence.
Describing the ordeal as “horrific,” Mazibuko said she could not sit idle while the girl suffered hence she took an active role in assisting law enforcement.
She said she posed as a potential client, luring the suspect into a trap by pretending to need transport services to South Africa.
Mazibuko pretended to be a wealthy businesswoman offering him a better life, money, travel, and everything. He fell for it.
Mazibuko said the ruse developed into a fake romantic relationship, during which the suspect sent her explicit messages that later formed part of the evidence used to secure his arrest.
She also helped ensure the teenage survivor did not drop out of school and is now enrolled at a new institution where she is receiving support.
Both the accused and his mother have since appeared in court and were remanded in custody pending trial.
According to court documents, the first incident occurred on 4 February at about 10pm when the accused arrived from delivering goods from South Africa to locals.
“The complainant was studying in her room when the two accused persons entered the room. The first accused (mother) instructed the complainant to have sexual intercourse with the second accused (the uncle), if she wanted her mother to be healed from the sickness she was suffering from. Out of desperation, the complainant agreed to,” reads part of the court document.
It was stated that the first accused left the room, leaving the complainant to rape the victim.
“He ordered the complainant to lie on the bed and raped her twice,” the document reads.
Thereafter, on every weekend, it was alleged that he would come from his South African base and sexually abuse the complainant.
On March 14, the complainant narrated her ordeal to a relative, who then alerted Mazibuko who came to the complainant’s rescue on March 16. The complainant was referred for medical examination.
