ROHR Zimbabwe: Intimidation and Rape... what has happened to Victims?

Intimidation and Rape... what has happened to Victims?

In Zimbabwe, rape has been used as a form of intimidation by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Military and State Agents since the year 2000. The highest level of Rape Victims that came forward has been documented to be in the years of 2008 to 2009 during the period of the Zimbabwe General Elections.

Rape continues to happen, but much fewer rape victims are coming forward to report this crime since the perpetrators are those in authority. It is widely known that in Zimbabwe corruption is rife at all levels, as a result Rape victims have lost confidence in the Zimbabwean Criminal and Justice System. Victims are ashamed, scared and embarrassed to even voice out the abuse let alone report the authoritative perpetrators.

In January 2019, during a Civil #Shutdown protest against fuel hikes, it was widely reported women and young girls where raped or sexually assaulted. Approximately 14 cases were reported between the 14^th and 15^th of January 2019 of women having been raped. Some victims came forward anonymously during a report by Sky News and spoke out about what had happened to them. This was publicly disputed by President Mnangagwa, the Police Spokesperson Charity Charamba and the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Information Publicity and Broadcasting Nick Mangwana. This forced many other victims not to come forward as those in positions of authority had rejected that rape had occurred, thus victims felt investigations would not happen, their faith in the fairness of the courts was destroyed.

Organisations such as Amnesty International, Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch and Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) all condemned the intimidation tactics used by the Zanu PF led Zimbabwean Government which included the raping of women. Over 4 months on from the Civil #Shutdown in January 2019, no action has been taken by the government to investigate the rape, sexual assaults claims and the government has not even facilitated the provision of counselling services to help victims who come forward.

The international media has remained silent and it seems the victims of rape (future victims of rape and sexual assaults) have been silenced into oblivion and will continue to suffer in silence whilst the world has forgotten about them.

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