ZIMBABWE National Council for the Welfare of Children (ZNCWC) national director Taylor Nyanhete yesterday said one of the major reasons for rising rape statistics was the erroneous belief that having sexual intercourse with a minor would heal medically incurable ailments.
BY FELUNA NLEYA STAFF REPORTER
Although many people have been jailed for rape, the crime has continued unabated, compelling women’s groups, including Musasa Project, to call for a 30–year minimum mandatory sentence for offenders.
Nyanhete said: “There is also an issue of rituals. Some older men tend to think that if they engage in sexual activities with children they will be healed of whatever they are suffering from and they target the children.”
He, however, believes that because there has been such a significant erosion of moral values in society, rape statistics have remained high.
“People are losing their moral values, that is why we are having more and more children being abused,” Nyanhete said.
He said that children were being abused on a daily basis and this had become a concern especially when the perpetrators were given light sentences.
“People have lost that saying ‘your child is my child’, it is not happening anymore hence one does not care about someone’s child,” he said.
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Nyanhete said that migration has also seen parents leaving their children alone while they went out to eke out a living.
“Children are on many occasions being left alone at home and hence people with no moral values abuse these children who have no one to defend them,” he said. “Even teachers who are being trusted with the children are also abusing them, this shows the extent to which people are losing their moral values.”
Television effects and influence from social networks where children easily access pornographic material has also influenced them to believe that sexual abuse was not a crime.
Last year over 2 400 children were reportedly raped by relatives.
