Sekai Hwangwa was asleep when soldiers carrying guns burst into her home in Zimbabwe’s capital during a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests this month, raping and beating her up.
Source: ‘What will happen to me if I report?’ – A rape victim’s fear of reprisals – NewsDay Zimbabwe February 1, 2019
By Jeffrey Moyo
The 21-year-old, who was too afraid to report the attack to police, said the soldiers told her she was being punished for joining protesters who burned tyres and looted shops after President Emmerson Mnangagwa raised fuel prices by 150%.
“Soldiers stormed my home at midnight on the second day of the protests, their faces hidden behind balaclavas, and started beating me,” Hwangwa, whose name has been changed to protect her identity said.
“They were accusing me of participating in the protests, saying I was one of the hooligans that burnt tyres on the streets. After that, they raped me,” she said.
Mnangagwa’s government has come under severe criticism for a crackdown on protesters that rights groups said killed at least 12 people and injured scores. Police put the death toll at three.
The President, who took over in 2017 when his predecessor Robert Mugabe was forced to resign after a coup, promised during campaigning in a presidential election last year to repair the economy and break with Mugabe’s toxic politics of non-tolerance.
But the crackdown has alarmed rights groups, who fear a return to the authoritarian regime that characterised much of the Mugabe era, and have demanded that government investigates reports of rape and other abuses by security forces.
“Beatings, harassment and other abuses have continued without actions from government to hold accountable those committing the abuses,” Southern Africa director for Human Rights Watch, Dewa Mavhinga, said.
Amnesty International said Zimbabwean authorities “must act swiftly to ensure security forces were held to account for the ongoing brutal human rights violations — including torture, rape, beatings and killings of civilians”.
The army said in a joint statement with police on Tuesday that no rapes had been reported and urged victims to come forward.
“Any abuse should be reported to the police with a view to arrest the perpetrator, gather evidence and initiate interventions for the victim to receive medical care,” it said.
But victims contacted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation said they had not come forward for fear of reprisals.
Nerisa Zivhu, 24, fled her home after she was gang raped by soldiers and was now staying in a safe house in the capital Harare run by a charity.
“They kicked my bedroom door open before raping me without protection, saying I deserved the punishment for participating (in the protests),” said Zivhu, whose real name has also been withheld.
“What will happen to me if I report? Will I survive after that? Will I be safe?”
The head of the Musasa Project — a charity set up to tackle violence against women and girls — urged the country’s female Defence minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, to investigate.
“We all celebrated your appointment as Minister of Defence. Our expectation was that women and girls would, in our lifetime feel safe around the military,” Nettie Musanhi tweeted.
“Reports of sexual abuse against women and girls by soldiers are worrying and require investigation.”
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