Disturbing increase in rape cases worrying the police
Police in Bulawayo express their worry over the increase of rape cases. The unfortunate part is these cases are mostly perpetrated by relatives or guardians. The Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirms this adding that a week barely passes by without the police handling a rape case.
“In certain weeks we receive about three cases of rape where for example an uncle would have raped a niece or a grandfather would have raped his granddaughter. This is worrying because these are the people who would have been entrusted with those children but instead they turn monstrous and sexually assault them.”
“Just recently a step-father from Emthunzini suburb raped his stepdaughter in order to get back at her mother who was cheating on him. Rape victims face the brunt of carrying unwanted pregnancies while some contract sexually transmitted infections,” said Inspector Ncube.
Inspector Ncube goes on to urge parents and guardians not to trust anyone even relatives around their daughters. He also adds that such issues should not be buried if a family member is involved but instead report to the Police.
Disturbing increase in rape cases worrying the police
This comes after the Minister of Women Affairs, Community Small and Medium Enterprise Development Sithembiso Nyoni presented worrying figures in Parliament. A total of 900 Zimbabwean girls under the age of 18 years were raped in three months alone between October and December 2020. These are just reported cases. According to the Minister, an average of ten girls are raped every day.
“Women and girls who constitute the greater percentage of Gender Based Violence survivors find themselves trapped in homes with abusive husbands, fathers, brothers and family members with limited access to protection and support services.”
“We have indeed witnessed unprecedented incidents of rape during this period (October to December 2020). The Victim Friendly Unit of the Zimbabwe Republic Police received 1222 cases of rape in the third quarter of 2020 and in the fourth quarter they received 1274 cases country wide,” she said.
The Government will scale up community level awareness raising with the aim to encourage reporting of such cases especially where minors are the victims.