Upsurge in rape cases breeds fear among women

By Duduzile Ruzive

As a young woman, I am deeply concerned about the increase in rape cases as there seems to be very little done to curb this heinous crime.

Children and women are raped on daily basis and because of how perpetrators are intimidating, it makes it difficult for one to disclose or even find justice.

I think that the law is very weak when it comes to cases of rape. The sentences are not deterrent enough to perpetrators. At the same time the issue of bribery makes it difficult for victims to pursue their cases.

Once I had an encounter with one woman who told me that the docket for her case had disappeared from the hands of the police. Nothing was done there after as she had no resources to follow up on the case.

I have observed that law enforcement agents only pay attention to cases that have dominated social media platform, otherwise many cases are dying a natural death with no reasonable investigations.

Out of a few survivors of rape that I have talked to, I have discovered that all proceedings are done at first and it is proven medically that the victims would have been violated, cases then disappear in thin air.

It is either their perpetrators vanish to neighbouring countries or their sentences are just a few years in prison then with time the meant-to-be jail birds are released after paying bribes and will be back at it again.

The welfare due to lack of funds and resources at times it suffers a backlog to follow up on rape cases.

The victims of rape once their perpetrators are realized ,,they leave in fear again and it then leads to suicides, discomfort in the community, lack of confidence and at the same time victims see no need to report..

At times these matters happen within family and victims are told not to do anything as at times their perpetrators are bread winners.

A few victims who still attend counselling sessions from police Victim Friendly Unit (VFU) confirm that at times it ends there and really they are not satisfied with what happens after filing the reports.

I propose that we should lobby for stiff penalties against perpetrators of rape and at the same time punish heavily any official who interferes with the investigation and prosecution of offenders.