WATCH: 3 562 sexual abuse cases in three months

ZIMBABWE recorded a total of 3 562 cases of sexual violence between January and March this year, with most of the perpetrators being close to the victims.

This proximity often results in a delay in reporting the crimes, hampering the provision of medical care to the victims. According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat), there has been a marginal increase in criminal offences this year compared to last year, with 221 704 crime offences reported between January and March compared to 221 596 recorded during the same period last year.

“There were 3 562 cases of sexual violence recorded in the first quarter of 2024 representing a crime rate of 23,5 per 100 000,” reads the ZimStat report.

National police spokesperson, Commissioner Paul Nyathi, has expressed concern that some of the sexual violence cases are within families, leading to attempts to cover up the crimes.

“Some of the sexual violence cases are committed by trusted individuals to their victims. This could be fathers and others who are close to the victims.

“In some of these situations, people try to sweep the cases under the carpet. In doing so, the perpetrator is given leeway to continuously abuse the victim,” said Comm Nyathi.

He warned children against walking past bushy areas, especially when travelling to and from school as some of the rapists target them in such areas.

Local medical doctor, Dr Misheck Ruwende, also said most of the victims that report to health institutions are those close to perpetrators leading to delays in medical attention and interventions.

“Usually the young girls are the victims and the perpetrators are usually the relatives. Rarely do we get cases where strangers are the perpetrators,” said Dr Ruwende.

“It’s usually people who are around that particular victim. As a result, relatives, friends and family members, always make deliberations on whether they must go to the hospital and this delays what we can do medically to assist the victim.

“We only have 72 hours medically where we can intervene when someone is sexually abused or raped. We only have 72 hours of preventing HIV and 72 hours of preventing an unwanted pregnancy.

“These are life-changing conditions in someone’s life. So within 72 hours at least we can prevent pregnancy, we can prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.”

Dr Ruwende said in some cases, victims carry to full-term pregnancies following sexual abuse, which creates an unhealthy relationship between the mother and the child.

He said the child becomes a constant reminder that the woman was raped. Dr Ruwende also said there was a need for a community approach to detect and arrest sexual abuse cases.

“Teachers must help, they are with the children almost daily and they must know the symptoms that there has been some sexual violence on a particular child. Church leaders, neighbours, community leaders, all those people must be vigilant and alert and should know the symptoms of someone who has been sexually assaulted,” he said.

Gender activist Ms Babongile Gora said most sexual violence is committed against teenagers by those close to them who sexually groom them before physically abusing them.
She also called for early detection and reportage of sexual abuse cases through open discussions within families and schools.

“Most of the sexual violence cases are committed against minors by mostly known perpetrators, who mostly are fathers or uncles. These known perpetrators start by grooming their victims,” she said.

“They don’t just pounce on their victims, but they start by passing sexual comments, fondling them until the child thinks it’s just play and then they eventually start physically sexually abusing them. They do it over some time,” said Ms Gora.

She said sexual violence committed by known perpetrators is sometimes covered up by family members.
“Most of the time, families do not want to expose their abusive relatives. In some instances, the abuse only comes to light when there is a pregnancy or when neighbours decide to open up on the cases,” she said.
She is pleased that children are now taught sexual education at school, saying sex education can help reduce abuse cases.

Ms Gora, who operates from Beitbridge District in Matabeleland South, said she usually holds a boot camp to educate minors about sexual abuse.
“From our assessment, the boot camp has created more knowledge on sexual abuse and we observed that following the boot camps that we conducted there was a relative decrease in sexual abuse cases.

“I also encourage parents to openly talk about sexual abuse within their homes as this contributes to early detection and reportage of sexual abuse cases.” —@nqotshili