The pregnant girl was allegedly denied hospital assistance
by a members of the apostolic sect, which resorted to prayers and kept her at
the shrine until she died due to complications.
Her death has caused an uproar with women’s rights
organisations and human rights defenders who are baying for the blood of the
perpetrators, demanding justice for the girl. No official police report has
been made on the matter despite the wide publicity of the incident.
Africa Union (AU) goodwill ambassador for ending child
marriage Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda challenged authorities to take a strong stand
and bring the “criminals” who include the church leaders and the man who
impregnated her to book.
“Can the persons be named, arrested and face justice. The
accomplices are known, those who gave away the child, those who took her and
stayed with her at the shrine. They are
all guilty,” Gumbonzvanda said.
“This child has a name, family, community, and a
government. Her death has created outrage. This child was raped, yet focus is
on the pregnancy and not the gross inhumane violation of her body and her
person.”
Gumbonzvanda said the girl was “raped” by a known person,
the one who made her pregnant, yet he remained unnamed and protected by his
religion and patriarchy.
“Political will to act is slow or inadequate. Many days
later, we are telling the story of her death. When the story became known, I
expected the police to take a strong position, together with the relevant
ministries working to end child marriages,” she said.
The AU goodwill ambassador said while Zimbabwe had many
policies, theories of change, results-based frameworks, standard operating
procedures, guidelines for such cases, nothing has been done so far.
“We are all angry because this is not a single child,
thousands of them in the country and millions in Africa are raped,
sexually-abused and some die without anyone talking about them,” said
Gumbonzvanda, whose efforts to end child marriages are recognised regionally
and globally.
She said these religious groups were seemingly above the
law. “They break many laws and nothing
happens to them. They are known, their leadership and their structures. Why do
they seem untouchable? They render all the systems, policies and structures
irrelevant.”
Speaking on the legal implications of the matter, Sethulo
Ncube from the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association said it was a criminal
offence to sleep with a minor.
“So whoever impregnated her should be arrested and
prosecuted. The Domestic Violence Act looks at child marriages as a form of
domestic violence. Then it was also unlawful and should have been reported,”
Ncube said.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul
Nyathi said he was still to get the full report on the matter.
“I want to find out. I have not yet received the full
report,” Nyathi said. Newsday
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