THE case of the 13-year-old girl from Chikomba — raped by eight men, some of them relatives — is horrifying.
It is not just a crime; it is a national tragedy.
At a time when she should be focusing on her final Grade 7 examinations, this orphan is instead carrying the burden of trauma, violation and a pregnancy she did not choose.
Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.
Cases of child abuse are rising at an alarming rate across Zimbabwe.
What is more chilling is that in many of these cases, the perpetrators are not strangers lurking in the dark, but relatives, family friends and trusted community members.
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The very spaces where children should feel safest have become dangerous.
Silence and stigma often keep victims hidden, while perpetrators continue to roam the streets free, emboldened by a justice system that moves too slowly and punishes too lightly.
This must end.
Zimbabwe cannot continue to treat sexual abuse as if it were a minor offence.
It destroys lives, families and communities.
It robs children of their innocence and their futures.
Let us be clear: these crimes do not happen in a vacuum.
They happen in a country where child protection systems are weak, where victims are silenced by stigma, where police investigations are often sluggish and where courts hand down lenient sentences that embolden perpetrators.
This is not just about individual abusers.
It is about a State that has failed to create an environment where children are safe.
Shelters for survivors are almost nonexistent.
Counselling is left to underfunded non-governmental organisations.
The government itself has ineffective preventive programmes, has no meaningful public awareness campaigns and no strong victim support systems.
Perpetrators exploit these gaps, confident that they will get away with light punishments.
Society needs to see them getting stiffer penalties — sentences that remove them from society for a long time and send a message that abuse will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
However, tougher laws alone will not solve this crisis.
Communities must also break the culture of silence.
Families must stop covering up for abusive relatives.
Leaders must speak out and act decisively, not only when cases become sensational in the media, but every single time a child or vulnerable person is violated.
Schools, churches and community structures must become safe havens, not hunting grounds for predators.
What is needed now is not rhetoric, but policy reform.
There is need for mandatory minimum sentences for child sexual abuse cases, to prevent leniency.
The government must equip specialised child protection courts with trained prosecutors and magistrates who understand the trauma associated with abuse.
There is need for fully resourced child protection units in the police, to speed up investigations and shield victims from intimidation.
Government must come up with State-funded survivor support systems, including counselling, safe shelters and reintegration programmes.
Also, there is need for nationwide prevention campaigns to change cultural attitudes, break silence and raise awareness.
The Chikomba case should be a turning point.
It should shock the conscience of the nation.
The government must guarantee the safety of its most vulnerable members of the community — the children.
The message must be unambiguous: Zimbabwe will not tolerate sexual abuse.
And the government must prove it not with mere words, but with decisive action.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to international conventions on child protection.
It has constitutional guarantees for the safety and dignity of every citizen.
Until these are enforced with seriousness, our children will remain in danger.
Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done — swiftly and firmly.
Anything less emboldens abusers and deepens the culture of impunity.
Our children’s lives matter and their futures must be protected at all costs.