- 81 Children raped in 2 weeks in Zimbabwe- Police;
- November 25, 1960, Miribal sisters (Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa) assassinated;
- November 25, Elimination of Violence Against Women Day;
- December 1, World AIDS Day;
- December 3, International Day of People with Disabilities;
- December 6, 1989, 14 Female students killed at École Polytechnique;
- December 10, International Human Rights Day;
- 2012 Theme: From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women.
The Students Solidarity Trust (SST), a registered civil society organization in Zimbabwe championing 365 days of activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV), joins the world in commemorating the 16 days of activism against gender based violence.
SST takes the opportunity to denounce all forms of gender based violence in schools and institutions of higher learning in Zimbabwe including wolf whistling; date rape; sexual harassment; state violence including torture and abuse of female students by lecturers; abuse perpetrated by security personnel and kombi drivers and conductors who jeer and make lewd remarks about female students’ outfits.
The organization further denounce all forms of structured, institutionalized and un-institutionalized types of gender based victimization in institutions of higher learning which include embarrassment; invasion of personal space; sexual exploitation; leering and staring; aggression by university personnel; verbal and physical abuse; story fabrications; emotional abuse; unwanted touching, kissing, fondling, exposure of genitalia, voyeurism, exhibitionism, exposure to pornography; use of position of trust to compel otherwise unwanted sexual activity with or without physical force.
SST notes that GBV is an under-reported crime and encourages both male and female students to take advantage of existing Zimbabwe laws and report early cases of GBV to the police and other victim friendly units or institutions before evidence is lost or tempered with.
The 2012 Campaign delves into five thematic areas which are:
1) Bringing together women, peace, and human rights movements to challenge militarism;
2) Proliferation of small arms and their role in domestic violence;
3) Sexual violence in and after conflict;
4) Political violence against women, including election violence and
5) Sexual and gender-based violence committed by state agents, particularly the police or military.
SST stands in solidarity with the school going girl child, female students in tertiary education institutions and women that have lost their careers or failed to concentrate on their studies due to GBV perpetrated within the framework of the above mentioned thematic areas; those that continue to leave in fear of violence in their homes, schools, campuses; the children whose lives and career ambitions are shuttered by sexual abuse by teachers, relatives and peers and most importantly those that have had the courage to break away from such violence.
SST is also concerned that even with all the strides in legal and policy frameworks which include the Domestic Violence Act Chapter 5:16, national gender policy, victim friendly units, quarter systems in universities, Zimbabwe women and girls continue to be raped, harassed, denied rights, and subjected to domestic violence.
The Students Solidarity Trust notes the impact that GBV has on the performance of those affected in their studies. The Trust is also concerned with the impact that GBV has on school performance by children coming from families affected by GBV. The organization also notes the devastating impact that the actual abuse has on the affected students in their studies.
It is against this background that SST castigates sexual scandals reported in the media unearthed at a school in the Anglican Church’s Shirley Cripps Children’s Home in Chikwaka that has led to the arrest of one care-giver under the administration of deposed and disgraced Bishop Kunonga. Statements attributed to Bishop Chad Gandiya by the Zimbabwe media indicate that there could have been widespread abuse of children at various schools under the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe during Kunonga’s reign.
The SST urges Minister of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, the police; parents and other stakeholders to take stern measures in bringing the culprits to justice. It is one case that SST as a watchdog civil society organization will be following with keen interest.
Media reports state that eighty one children were raped in two weeks of October countrywide with police investigations revealing that relatives perpetrate most of the cases. Herald of October 2, 2012 state that police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba in October said rape cases continued to increase countrywide. According to the report the cases are on the increase and a quick scan of the press coverage indicates they mostly involve school going children.
The SST condemns such cases which include the alleged sexual abuse of two school girls by deputy head, Lifatsi Mbedzi and teacher Forget Mbedzi at Kwalu Secondary school, about 130km west of Beitbridge in June this year and another rape case of a Grade Seven girl raped three times by a teacher at Toporo school in the same district.
The organization also lambasts a Chitungizwa 51-year-old man who in September this year inserted his finger into his six-year-old stepdaughter’s private parts as she was coming from school and gave her a US$1 as appeasement; that of Tapfumanei, a school guard in a Harare school who on October 29 at around 3pm raped a nine-year-old girl after giving her US$1 to buy corn snacks; that of Fatima Kahari (19) who forced her school going stepdaughter aged 7 to eat faeces and a case where a 17 year-old school girl was gang raped on camera by five high school pupils who include Tatenda Mahlungwe and Gift Masango after intercepting her from her way from school in September this year.
Post published in: News