Women in Zimbabwe on Friday in Bulawayo, called for tougher penalties for sexual harassment of women.
This was coming amid public anger over a highly publicised street attack and with police data showing that some offenders have got off with fines as low as 5 dollars in the past
Gender rights activists led by legislator Jessie Majome, the former Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, have called for minimum mandatory sentences for sex offences.
She said a campaign to crack down on offenders was launched this month after a video of a gang accosting a woman in a mini skirt in the capital Harare and stripping her naked was posted on social media and went viral.
The activist said so far only two of the gang has been arrested and their cases have yet to become before the courts.
“The attack late last year came just two months after hundreds of women in the southern African nation staged “mini skirt marches” to protest against sexual harassment of women and what they saw as leniency by courts in dealing with offenders,’’ she said.
Majome said the protests were part of a growing outcry from women in Zimbabwe over their treatment in the streets, lack of parliamentary seats and workplace discrimination.
Gender rights activist, said with support of other groups such as Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza), they are pursuing the issue in the National Assembly with a motion seeking a review of all gender-based violence sentences by setting minimum mandatory sentences.
She also urged the assembly to recommit to a three-year gender based violence strategy agreed in 2012 that aimed to cut violence against women by 20 per cent by this year.
“In June last year, then Vice President Joyce Mujuru released figures from the Zimbabwe police showing 11,000 women were raped between 2012 and March 2014 – 3,571 of them adults and7,411 aged under 16,’’ she said.
“This appeared to be a significant rise in numbers, but activists say accurate statistics are hard to pin down as many women are unwilling to come forward and report rape,’’ she added.
Majome welcomed moves by the Ministry of Justice to amend the law to provide minimum mandatory sentences for sexual abuse.
“Stiffer penalties are not the answer, but the solution lies in addressing gender inequality and employing a comprehensive response,” she said.
Simon Mavhaire, a member of the Padare Men’s Forum, was also trying to involve men in the drive for gender equality in the nation of around 13 million people.
He said the drive has become imperative to prove that all men are not potential rapists.
“What we are planning is to sensitising men on gender-based violence and sexual harassment through outreach programmes and workshops,” he said.