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NewsDay

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‘Public officials main perpetrators of child sexual abuse’

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THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Women Affairs yesterday cited public officials, including legislators, police officers, teachers and traditional leaders, as the main culprits in the sexual exploitation of minors.

THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Women Affairs yesterday cited public officials, including legislators, police officers, teachers and traditional leaders, as the main culprits in the sexual exploitation of minors.

by VENERANDA LANGA

This came out yesterday in a report on the high prevalence of child marriages in Mashonaland Central province presented in Parliament by committee chairperson Biata Nyamupinga.

“The committee found that communities in Mashonaland Central were concerned about incidences of sex with minors involving public officials or figures such as police officers, MPs, youth officers or teachers,” Nyamupinga said.

“The Zimbabwe Republic Police must, with immediate effect, enhance patrols in villages and engage the broader community leadership and schoolchildren on laws against child abuse, domestic and gender-based violence, and child marriages.”

Other factors blamed for fuelling early child marriages include poverty, lenient sentences given to rape offenders, religious beliefs, poor understanding of child rights, harmful cultural practices, stripteases in beerhalls and drug abuse.

Nyamupinga said Zimbabwe was among countries with high cases of child marriages where 5% of women and 0,3% of men aged 15 to 49 years were married at 15 years.

Nyanga North MP Magadzire Nyanhongo said the committee noted that traditional leaders aged between 70 and 80 years were said to be married to teenage girls.

Binga South MP Joel Gabbuza told Parliament that at one school in Binga, 16 girls dropped out of school due to pregnancy, adding in Kamativi a girl gave birth while writing school examinations.