Child Rape Now an Epidemic
. . . . mushrooming settlements now hotbeds
A Harare schoolgirl who was drugged at a party by her blind date and gang-raped before being driven and dumped in the industrial sites near her place, has broken her over 18-month silence about the ordeal.
The rape attack occurred on New Year’s Eve in 2017, in the capital’s sprawling high-density settlement of Hopley.
The then 15-year-lold had attended a party at a friend’s and met one young man who told her he was a university student but was staying in the nearby middle-density suburb of Waterfalls.
She told this publication the guy advised he would take her home as he was driving a friend’s car.
“We enjoyed each other’s company and he seemed quite a nice person,” she said, adding:
“Close to midnight I started feeling dizzy, drowsy and weak,” she said, confessing: “It must have been the ciders.”
“And, true to his word, the guy said it was time to move on and we got into a small car with his two friends, “in case the car developed problems,” he told me.
In an exclusive, the victim said she was driven in the most roundabout of routes ending at an abandoned warehouse under construction in the Ardbennie Light Industrial Sites where she was pulled not too gently from the car and threatened, beaten and raped by two of the guys in the .
She was then dumped in a nearby ditch by the roadside close to Mukuvisi stream.
The girl’s harrowing account of sexual abuse, rape and survival has never been reported before. Nor has she ever publicly spoken about the gruesome details of the rape to anyone besides her aunt.
Now, the rape survivor says previous fears she held over speaking out have finally abated after she told the aunt who took her for counseling. However a post-exposure prophylaxis was done – but way, way after the recommended 72 hours. PEP means taking antiretroviral medicines (ART) after being potentially exposed to HIV to prevent becoming infected.
Fortunately, the girl told this journalist, she was and is still HIV negative but wants her identity not to be disclosed.
“I can’t forget that day forced down as it was like a death sentence,” she said, her voice trailing into a whisper.
Child rights experts say sexual abuse, exploitation and rape of under-age children is on the increase “and something needs to be done” as perpetrators increasingly prey on vulnerable girls – especially in the mushrooming unplanned settlements in and around Harare.
“From what we have noted, most child sexual abuse cases are perpetrated by known and trusted persons to the child,” says Memory Kadau, executive director at Adult Rape Clinic in the capital.
(Pictured.)
Adult Rape Clinic executive director Memory Kadau . . . “something needs to be done”
Neighbours, domestic helpers, fathers and boyfriends in cases of adolescents in what is commonly referred to as date rape, she says.
According to the organisation, some of the most common challenges they have encountered withdrawal of cases, inconsistency in statements during the reporting stage and unwillingness of witnesses to testify in court. ARC also often makes efforts in searching to place children in a place of safety where they can receive ongoing psychosocial support and care.
ARC provides free quality and comprehensive free medical and psychosocial services which include administration of Post Exposure Prophylaxis for sexually transmitted infections and emergency contraceptive pills.
“Voluntary HIV testing and counselling are also conducted at the clinic,” says Kadau, adding survivors of any age are seen at the facility free of charge.
The director also added that they would want to see a society where sexual and gender-based violence is unthinkable “and as such we “would want to see communities vcoming up with platforms that create open dialogue that address and challenge root causes of SGB”.
Judith Mhuru, a gender and child rights advocate at Professional Media Abilities Network (PMAN), that works for social justice and economic empowerment of people – including children – with disabilities, says unlike adults, children struggle to articulate what they feel.
“We need children’s voices to hear and understand their challenges,” she said, calling for the strengthening of child-led child protection community groups in hot-beds like Hopley and other new residential settlements.
Susan Ngani, a director at the Department of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, said the time to act is now.
“We’re the custodians of children and now as government, in this Second Republic, we need to be professional, working with other stakeholders to protect our children, our future,” the director said, emphasizing the need to facilitate alignment of children’s rights in our legal system and supporting the national task-force on child protection.
Hopley, is a fairly recent peri-urban residential neighbourhood 15 km on the southern outskirts of the capital along the Masvingo highway. The settlement has a staggering “population of approximately 200 000”, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) data, of which 65 000 are between the ages of 10 and 24” and this has become a fertile breeding ground for social challenges.
The area is characterized by high levels of migration weak social services, poor infrastructure, low education, high unemployment, and high reports of child sexual abuse..
In addition, says the UNFPA, “concerns including child marriages and teen pregnancies are high on the list challenges”.
Abuse, it’s literally a fish pool of vulnerabilities,” said Ngani. “So we need to engage these big fish who own these premises.”
Another challenge is resources.
The department is just that – a department.
“Treasury has its own priorities,” she said explaining that: “In Harare Central, out of 15 staff needed we only have 3. The ratio of social workers is one for 49 000! Not practical!”
“Children who don’t have any family support, homeless – if you want to find a victim, all you have to do is go through the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) transcripts. It’s a real challenge!”
The fact that almost 90% of cases of and child sexual abuse are committed by people known to the victims doesn’t help either,” she added.
Many find themselves reliving the horror of seeing the perpetrators on a daily basis as most trials go on for a long time.
A lawyer who works for Justice for Children Trust who spoke alongside a panel of child rights activists and defenders, said she often counsels sexually violated and traumatized children and testifies in court to help prosecute those who victimized them.
“When I am testifying in a child sexual abuse case – which is fairly common these days – it’s really clear that some of our court officers do not really understand the real issues,” she told stakeholders during plenary.
“Cases can be delayed at various levels, from opening initial police documents at the police station to collecting evidence at the medical facility while awareness is on what is abuse are sadly very low,” she lamented.
PMAN’s Mhuru recommended strong joint operations between local authorities, police, child-care workers and the Department of Social Welfare.
“We urge the government to carry out a mapping of the hot-beds and work on awareness within communities,” she said.
“Child sexual abuse and rape are it is abhorrent and heinous. But still it is everywhere!” she said. “It’s something that is hiding in plain sight – we have to destroy it by effective policing and law enforcement.”
