Buhera South Member of Parliament Joseph Chinotimba deplored the rape of women especially the girl child and said that a fund must be set up to help girls because most of them were raped because of poverty.
He, however, also said women should not send their children to their neighbours to ask for salt or sugar when they knew the man was alone and his wife was at the communal lands.
In his contribution to the motion on rape sponsored by Jesse Majome who called for the minimum sentence for rape to be 30 years, Chinotimba said even when one looked at indigenisation, it was targetted at boys and not girls.
“As a country, let us address this anomaly. Let us empower these girls so that there is reduction of rape cases. Conditional employment so that one can secure employment is caused by poverty. I am saying there must be a fund that looks after a girl child. If you see street children, a lot of them are girls. If there is a fund to look after the welfare of the girl child, it will help us in reducing the rate of rape. I support the women that are deploring rape,” he said.
Below is Chinotimba’s full contribution:
*MR. CHINOTIMBA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would want to give my support to this motion that was raised by the hon. member. We are not hiding behind a finger, but the truth of the matter is we are having mothers and fathers in this august House. The problem that we are having is that domestic violence and rape are being mixed.
If people fight in their homesteads, it is called violence. There is nothing pleasing about rape. No men should force themselves onto a woman that they are not in love with. I would want to further add Madam Speaker by saying that it is not only man who are causing …
* MS ZINDI: On a point of order Madam Speaker. If it were possible, Hon. Chinotimba should not talk of rape, using those words in vernacular, the proper word is rape which again means the same thing as to have sexual relationship with someone without consent.
*THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Our dialects are different; hence the word for rape in vernacular can be anything.
*MR. CHINOTIMBA: In this country, I will not mention the name but I want to say so, so that women can understand, there are women who are in the habit of sending children to a next door neighbour and the wife is away in the communal land, to say can you please go and borrow some salt and sugar – HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections]– that practice which women indulge in …
*THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, order, hon. members, let us hear the hon. member in silence.
*MR. CHINOTIMBA: Thank you. I believe that I am not looking down upon women but the practice is bad, it is bad, we are saying we should not encourage such practices. I am saying if it is a woman who sends her child to a man knowing that that man’s wife is at a communal land and request for sugar…
*THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. members; let us not make noise, let us hear what the hon. member is saying.
*MR CHINOTIMBA: Let me continue by saying we are grown up people in here, we should be empathetic towards some things that are happening. If it happens to a man, it is bad; if it happens to a woman it is good. I am talking about what I witnessed. This causes children to be prone to rape. People in their homestead should not indulge in the habit of sending their children to ask for something or to borrow something during the middle of the night from other households. I agree with women that if anyone rapes someone, he should be sent to jail but there are rape cases that occur in the communal areas where they do not look at the events that have unfolded. There are some girls that are given to men by consent and it eventually turns out as rape but this could have been caused by the girl’s parents. We want that issue to be looked into so that men and women should not give their children to other men by consent.
I support the issues that were raised here by the women but my advice on that is that we should also consider some of these issues….
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Matangira, I think you are making a lot of noise.
*MR. CHINOTIMBA: Our country is not in a rosy situation because of poverty. As we speak, we have a lot of children that are not going to school, both boys and girls. I agree with the speakers that are saying people should be given funds in their communal lands so that their livelihood is enhanced. These children are raped because of poverty. As a Government and if it were possible, when we look at the issue of indigenisation – indigenisation targets boys, the girls are being overlooked. As a country, let us readdress this anomaly. Let us empower these girls so that there is reduction of rape cases. Conditional employment so that one can secure employment is caused by poverty. I am saying there must be a fund that looks after a girl child. If you see street children, a lot of them are girls. If there is a fund to look after the welfare of the girl child, it will help us in reducing the rate of rape. I support the women that are deploring rape.
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