Rural communities struggle to get emergency services

Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Mat South Bureau Chief
THE nearest police station and clinic to Zendele Village in Ward 22 under Chief Marupi in Gwanda are over 70km away, which has resulted in cases of child sexual abuse going unreported.

Villagers have to go as far as Colleen Bawn and Manama to access a police station and health facility respectively.

This spells gloom for a significant number of children in the area whose cases of sexual abuse are swept under the carpet due to the unavailability of reporting mechanisms.

A Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) recently revealed that rural communities struggle to get emergency services as police stations and clinics are distant from their villages.

The long distances travelled to nearest emergency services is said to contribute to some victims not reporting cases against perpetrators.

This also exposes victims to sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies as it is normally expected that a raped victim should get medical treatment within 72 hours of being abused to counter any possible infections and pregnancy.

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting to commemorate16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, stakeholders said more needed to be done to ensure that challenges for those in rural areas are timely attended.

Ward 22 councillor, Marry Mpofu said cases of GBV and early marriages were on the increase in Zendele due to negligence and inaccessibility to law enforcers as the nearest police station is located more than 70 kilometres away.

“I am deeply honoured and happy with what is happening in my ward today. I never thought that one day such a great number of people would gather here to commemorate 16 Days of Activism against GBV.

“GBV have increased in this community but due to lack of police officers and health facilitators, all have been swept under the carpet which is unfair to the victims,” said Clr Mpofu.

Villagers said some fathers were sexually abusing their daughters and impregnating them but the incidents were only spoken about at family level.

“There’s a man who raped his daughter and impregnated her and the girls’ mother told her daughter not to report the incident to anyone as doing so would result in the family struggling if the father were to be arrested. There could be over 10 such cases where girls have been forced to keep quiet about their abuse,” said Mrs Ntando Ndlovu, a villager.

She said urgent action was needed to ensure that cases of sexual abuse were reported timeously.

Gwanda District Development Co-ordinator Mr Thulani Moyo said there were many dangers associated with child marriages.

“Child marriages often ends a girl’s education, exposes her to domestic violence and grave health risks from early child bearing, HIV and Aids traps her to poverty. The negative health consequences of adolescents, limited access to reproductive health information and services can be life threatening,” said Mr Moyo.

Research shows that early child bearing contributes to mortality and is a leading cause of death among girls aged 15 to 17 globally. — @Yolisswa