7 Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. 8 They were shocked and furious,because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in[a] Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.
It further reported that the girl sadly died after succumbing to severe internal bleeding, caused during the dialing.
This took place in Malambo Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kadewere in the district. However, news reports are full of similar incidents where girls are being violated by unscrupulous men and in some cases boys.
In other cases the assailants were male members of the family such as grandfathers, step fathers, uncles etc.
The blood of the girl, who met her fate on 21 May is recounted as having started with a request from a relation asking the young girl and her elder seven-year old sister, to collect a pail from a nearby borehole at around 6 pm, which the grandmother previously,left behind.
The deceased was then grabbed and dragged into a garden of pigeon peas and was defiled to the point of unconsciousness.
Before she joined politics and became MP, minister, Vice President then president, Dr. Joyce Banda had invited me to a gathering of women at her residence in Chirimba (her husband was then the Chief Justice).
In her invitation she had asked me to recount an article I had written on protecting girls and even young boys from defilement. At that point I was chief editor of The Independent. In the article I had advised parents and all caretakers of young children, to guard their children from predators, and not to leave their children (girls and boys) alone with any male servants or even relatives.
While the article I had written Refered to uncles, watchmen, domestic make servants, gardeners, etc., Mrs. Banda said she was aware of even grandfathers to defile their granddaughters.
Grandfather? Msxcriiiiiiiii! (English: Tsktsktsk!) I often think of my own grandparents: grandpa Justice Mbekeani was the dark suit-clad man who religiously came early Sunday mornings and walked with us to church at the St. Michael’s and All Angles Church. Every Sunday. Grandpa Moses Chikankheni, when he came back from Salisbury (current Harare) taught me how to speak a funny language called Shona; but he also taught me how to count money – careful to separate the pennies from the half pennies.
While it was difficult to run away from the lets go to church on Sunday grandpa, on some occasions I managed to escape the money counting sessions with grandpa Chikankheni. But never in all those times, did it ever occur to me that these two men could be sexual predators!
It is true, times have changed since my youth. But times have remained the same since that Saturday afternoon at the former Chief Justice and Mrs. Banda’s residence. Girls are being sexually preyed upon. The numbers of reported cases are increasing. Some ending tragically like the one of May 21.
The punitive sentences have evolved and longer prison terms are being slapped on sexual offenders; this is thanks to Justice Tambala who led the judicial review on this topic some time back. But many sexual assailants are still occurring and reported. The law protecting girls and boys from sexual predators are there, the police and justices are doing their jobs in apprehending and locking up convicted sexual felons. But this has not stopped these heinous and sometimes gruesome acts from happening.
The time has come to act strongly against these and for our society to say NO MORE SEXUAL OFFENSE AGAINST OUR GIRLS!
In an article on a similar topic (rising civil and criminal offenses) last month I asked for our leaders to take action against perpetrators and train community members on civilized behaviours; this would be a measure for creating a just society with respect for human rights of all members of the community.
Let’s face it, we cannot label ourselves civilized, respecters of human rights or even ask that our human rights be respected when there are some among us (girls and sometimes, boys) are victims of the selfish sexual acts of some members of our society.
It was mentioned that the leaders act to stop the acts from happening in their communities.
It was also suggested that perhaps our former President Bakili Muluzi could be our Champion, Ambassador campaigner against the sexual predators of our children. He had a lot of choice words on men that preyed on young children. That call is still there.
A word must also go to all people who are custodians of young children, especially girls: PLEASE DON’T LEAVE YOUR CHILDREN, ESPECIALLY THE GIRL CHILDREN ALONE OR IN CUSTODY OF ANY MEN, WITHOUT A GROWN WOMAN AROUND. In addition to this, children should Never be sent on errands alone, especially at night.
This is a very sad situation, but it is an urgent appeal to mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, guardians, please take action and let us all soldier up and protect the future of the young girls, and the young boys in our families, communities and our nation. Imagine a society without sexual assault, a society free from this type of violence against girls.
One dead girl from sexual assault, is one girl too many; one defiled girl, is one girl too many.