Who will protect the children?

My aunt’s 12 year-old daughter was recently cornered into a secluded little room by the caretaker for their block of flats where they stay in Avondale. He attempted to rape her. Thankfully she managed to escape unscathed, but she is still reeling from the effects of the trauma associated with that experience. My family has gone through a frustrating episode over this and probably writing about it is my way of dealing with it. Attempted rape in my books and the books of our law is a criminal offence that is (or should be) punishable by long imprisonment. The mother reported the case to police who at the time swiftly acted and condemned the caretaker to the cells. Less than 48 hours later, the man was back in the yard, going about his business and acting like all was normal. This was quite baffling and it soon became apparent that a few palms had probably been greased. Realizing the danger of having this man lurking about his victim and the other children; the residence committee unanimously decided to relieve him of his duties as caretaker. At the moment, the man is not only carrying on as if nothing has changed, he has also harassed the chairperson of the residence committee and slashed all her maize crop after she served him with a letter of dismissal. He has also threatened my aunt with unspecified action. In short, the man is a dangerously loose canon and I shudder to think of what he is capable of doing.

My aunt has tried going back to the police who have informed her that the assailant paid admission of guilt fine and could not be detained outside certain ‘specific’ charges. I know it must be devastatingly traumatic for her because the man who fondled and groped her child is being watched wreaking havoc and promising more, and nobody seems interested in doing anything about it, especially the police.

In a desperate move, my aunt has approached numerous local child protection organizations – a lot of whom have not been able to do anything much for her either because they claim to be overwhelmed and have referred her to the next organization or are for some reason hesitant or simply caught up in their own bureaucratic processes. While I appreciate that obtaining justice for an abused child is not an automatic process in Zimbabwe, it is still quite disheartening that none of these organizations have taken real interest in dealing with this particular case. They have literally been tossed from one organization to the other; the kid has probably suffered more trauma from having her case rejected from all sides, meanwhile she lives in real fear of the moron that tried to rape her.