Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) 10 raped on SA border daily: officials

COMMENT - 'Claime officials' is not the same as doing a large scale survey.

10 raped on SA border daily: officials
Desperate plunge ... Zimbabweans wade across the Limpopo River on their way to South Africa
by Staff Reporter
24/05/2011 00:00:00

AT LEAST 10 Zimbabwean women are raped DAILY while making the perilous journey across the border into South Africa, refugee and health groups operating on the border said on Monday.

Despite South Africa’s easing of travel restrictions for Zimbabweans, police say thousands still risk their lives by using illegal entry points – largely because they have no money to obtain passports.

The result is that women and children entrust their lives to strangers who promise to ease their entry into South Africa, only to turn around and abuse them.

On occasions, it’s the men who are sodomised, an official from the Musina-based United Refugee Centre for Girls and Boys (URCGB) said in an interview.

“We handle more than 50 Zimbabweans visiting our centre every day and of these people, the majority are women. You will find that at least 10 of them would have been raped and mugged, translating to about 300 women, including children, who are raped every month at the border,” said Jacob Matakanye, a board member of the URCGB.

He added: "When our counsellors interview the victims, you find that some of them were gang-raped by armed people who also rob them of their belongings such as clothes and money.

“These incidents are very traumatising because some of the victims are elderly women who are raped in front of their children and spouses.
“In some cases, men are also forced to rape people they would be travelling with.”

Matakanye’s organisation has established a help centre in Musina, but he says the two nurses working at the centre, who also double up as counsellors, are struggling to cope.

The international health volunteer group Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) said it was treating at least 20 women victims every month.

“Some of the rape victims are as young as 13, and we also treat men who have been sodomised along the border. A majority of the rape victims, including men, sustain serious wounds and cuts,” said Christie Mwongera, the group’s project co-ordinator.

Mwongera said they estimated that tens more rape victims never report the attacks, and if they do, it is usually too late to provide adequate care, especially where sexually-transmitted diseases have been passed on.

MSF has established Sexual and Gender Based Violence clinics in the border towns of Musina and Beitbridge to offer trauma counselling and promote HIV-Aids awareness.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, the South African police spokesman for Limpopo Province, said the lifting of visa restrictions for Zimbabweans had not eased the flow of illegal immigrants.

"We continue to urge people to desist from using illegal crossing points as they are putting their lives at risk,” he said.

The South African government estimates that there are over two million Zimbabweans living there, more than half of them illegally. Last year, South African officials called on Zimbabweans to regularise their stay by applying for work permits, and close to 300,000 were approved.

Over the last 20 years, South Africa has been a favourite destination of Zimbabweans fleeing economic problems and political violence back home.

Labels: BORDERS, RAPE

posted by MrK @ 5:00 PM