News / National
Teenagers increasingly experimenting with sex
07 Jun 2016 at 07:07hrs | Views
HARDLY a week passes by without the Chitungwiza Magistrates Court dealing with a case of a man who would have engaged in sex with a minor.
Magistrate Rekina Dzikiti last week convicted 25-year-old Tinashe Muchenje of Murape Village in Seke and sentenced him to one year in prison after finding him guilty of having engaged in "consensual" sex with an 11-year-old girl on several occasions.
Four months of the sentence were, however, set aside on condition that he did not commit a similar offence in the next five years. The remaining eight months were suspended on condition that he performed community service.
The court heard that the man, who was 22 years when he started engaging in sex with the teenage girl, would lure her to the bush where the duo slept together. The matter only came to light in December 2015, when the minor's mother asked her daughter why she was not asking for money to buy her sanitary wear.
The minor disclosed to the mother that she was not experiencing her menstrual cycle and she suspected that her daughter was pregnant. The pregnancy was confirmed by a doctor at Dema and the matter was reported to the police.
In another case, Prince Makina (19) from Zengeza in Chitungwiza was also hauled before the courts for engaging in sex with a "consenting" 14-year-old girl who ended up pregnant.
Sherperd Mutunami of Unit N Seke also appeared before the courts for engaging in sex with a teenager. He would allegedly invite the minor to his house in the afternoon and ask to engage in sex with her, to which she would agree.
The girl's mother questioned the daughter and she disclosed that they were sleeping together, leading to police arresting the offender.
These are a few of the cases that continue to flood the courts countrywide. While some of the circumstances leading to the violation of the minors would leave an ordinary person sitting in the courtroom gallery sad, the majority of them can best be described as unbelievable.
A prosecutor who spoke on condition of anonymity said sometimes there could be a twist of events where matters would be reported as rape, but upon interrogation, the minors would disclose they were not forced.
"Some of these cases are reported as rape cases, but they turn out to be consented sex where the minors confirm that they agreed to sex," said the prosecutor said.
Recent statistics released by the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) revealed that cases of teenage pregnancies have remained high, particularly in the rural areas, with one in 10 adolescent girls giving birth each year.
According to findings by the ZDHS, while the percentage for urban adolescents giving birth dropped to 10,3%, for the rural adolescent girls, it was still high at 27,2%.
Pamela Mutopo from Sunningdale 2 in Harare argued that because of the lenient sentences given to offenders, many would continue with the habit.
"The law is to blame for the upsurge because it is too lenient on perpetrators of such crimes," she said, adding that many parents in some cases did not report the perpetrators to the police.
"Unlike in rape cases, the sentences for people that have consented sex with underage girls are not deterrent enough to the extent that one would rather keep the matter under wraps than be dragged through the long and emotionally draining criminal procedure, where perpetrators end up getting community service."
Section 70 of the Criminal Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9: 23 states that it is a criminal offence to engage in sex with a child below the age of 16.
David Kucherera (45) from Harare said some of the sentences were lenient to the extent that a person caught engaging in sex with minors could repeat the offence.
"Imagine someone getting community service for such an offence. What can stop them from doing it over and over again when they know that they are going to get four months imprisonment which can be wholly suspended for community service?" he queried.
Daisy Pambwai (32) from Warren Park blamed men who were in the habit of targeting minors and asking them for sexual favours, describing them as cowards.
"We have those cowards within society who manipulate the girls because they are guaranteed of consent," she said.
"These men are at fault. They are the ones that lure these minors and give them small freebies such as sweets."
Social commentator and youth advisor at St Theresa's Roman Catholic Church in Chitungwiza, Leonard Jamanda, said there was need for parents to be role models for their children.
"Parents have a role to play in the upbringing of their children.
"Parental guidance is lacking in most families because nowadays, people are focusing on bread and butter issues and neglecting moulding of their children," he said
Jamanda emphasized on the need for parents to be role models to their children.
Humanitarian Information and Facilitation Centre director, Virginia Muwanigwa, blamed poverty, which he said often forced young girls into sexual activities through which they would be given money.
"Some of the minors are drawn into early sexual debut because of their circumstances," she said, adding that this was the reason why some of the minors were lured by material things.
A social worker, Farirai Vheremu, concurred that poverty had a negative impact on the behaviour of minors.
"We have scenarios where a family of, say, five people, stays in one room and the children are exposed to their parents' sexual activities," she said.
"As children, they would want to discover their sexuality and some of them end up doing it with older people."
Chief Chiveso from Mashonaland West, a strong advocate for children's rights, blamed the social media for exposing minors to p.ornography.
"We have already erred on the way we adopted the new social media and these are some of the ripple effects of our mistakes," he said.
He said because children were exposed to p.ornography, most of them were now aware of how to perform sexual acts and it was no longer important for one to respect their bodies."
While technology was blamed for the upsurge in sexual debut among minors, social media expert Gamuchirai Masiyiwa said social media could, in fact, be used to solve the problem.
"Technology can be used to effect behaviour change among minors and it provides the most efficient opportunities to reverse this negative trend among them," she said.
Church leaders argued that sometimes stigmatisation often discouraged parents from reporting such cases, while the disintegration of the family structure had always left minors exposed.
Magistrate Rekina Dzikiti last week convicted 25-year-old Tinashe Muchenje of Murape Village in Seke and sentenced him to one year in prison after finding him guilty of having engaged in "consensual" sex with an 11-year-old girl on several occasions.
Four months of the sentence were, however, set aside on condition that he did not commit a similar offence in the next five years. The remaining eight months were suspended on condition that he performed community service.
The court heard that the man, who was 22 years when he started engaging in sex with the teenage girl, would lure her to the bush where the duo slept together. The matter only came to light in December 2015, when the minor's mother asked her daughter why she was not asking for money to buy her sanitary wear.
The minor disclosed to the mother that she was not experiencing her menstrual cycle and she suspected that her daughter was pregnant. The pregnancy was confirmed by a doctor at Dema and the matter was reported to the police.
In another case, Prince Makina (19) from Zengeza in Chitungwiza was also hauled before the courts for engaging in sex with a "consenting" 14-year-old girl who ended up pregnant.
Sherperd Mutunami of Unit N Seke also appeared before the courts for engaging in sex with a teenager. He would allegedly invite the minor to his house in the afternoon and ask to engage in sex with her, to which she would agree.
The girl's mother questioned the daughter and she disclosed that they were sleeping together, leading to police arresting the offender.
These are a few of the cases that continue to flood the courts countrywide. While some of the circumstances leading to the violation of the minors would leave an ordinary person sitting in the courtroom gallery sad, the majority of them can best be described as unbelievable.
A prosecutor who spoke on condition of anonymity said sometimes there could be a twist of events where matters would be reported as rape, but upon interrogation, the minors would disclose they were not forced.
"Some of these cases are reported as rape cases, but they turn out to be consented sex where the minors confirm that they agreed to sex," said the prosecutor said.
Recent statistics released by the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) revealed that cases of teenage pregnancies have remained high, particularly in the rural areas, with one in 10 adolescent girls giving birth each year.
According to findings by the ZDHS, while the percentage for urban adolescents giving birth dropped to 10,3%, for the rural adolescent girls, it was still high at 27,2%.
Pamela Mutopo from Sunningdale 2 in Harare argued that because of the lenient sentences given to offenders, many would continue with the habit.
"The law is to blame for the upsurge because it is too lenient on perpetrators of such crimes," she said, adding that many parents in some cases did not report the perpetrators to the police.
"Unlike in rape cases, the sentences for people that have consented sex with underage girls are not deterrent enough to the extent that one would rather keep the matter under wraps than be dragged through the long and emotionally draining criminal procedure, where perpetrators end up getting community service."
Section 70 of the Criminal Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9: 23 states that it is a criminal offence to engage in sex with a child below the age of 16.
David Kucherera (45) from Harare said some of the sentences were lenient to the extent that a person caught engaging in sex with minors could repeat the offence.
Daisy Pambwai (32) from Warren Park blamed men who were in the habit of targeting minors and asking them for sexual favours, describing them as cowards.
"We have those cowards within society who manipulate the girls because they are guaranteed of consent," she said.
"These men are at fault. They are the ones that lure these minors and give them small freebies such as sweets."
Social commentator and youth advisor at St Theresa's Roman Catholic Church in Chitungwiza, Leonard Jamanda, said there was need for parents to be role models for their children.
"Parents have a role to play in the upbringing of their children.
"Parental guidance is lacking in most families because nowadays, people are focusing on bread and butter issues and neglecting moulding of their children," he said
Jamanda emphasized on the need for parents to be role models to their children.
Humanitarian Information and Facilitation Centre director, Virginia Muwanigwa, blamed poverty, which he said often forced young girls into sexual activities through which they would be given money.
"Some of the minors are drawn into early sexual debut because of their circumstances," she said, adding that this was the reason why some of the minors were lured by material things.
A social worker, Farirai Vheremu, concurred that poverty had a negative impact on the behaviour of minors.
"We have scenarios where a family of, say, five people, stays in one room and the children are exposed to their parents' sexual activities," she said.
"As children, they would want to discover their sexuality and some of them end up doing it with older people."
Chief Chiveso from Mashonaland West, a strong advocate for children's rights, blamed the social media for exposing minors to p.ornography.
"We have already erred on the way we adopted the new social media and these are some of the ripple effects of our mistakes," he said.
He said because children were exposed to p.ornography, most of them were now aware of how to perform sexual acts and it was no longer important for one to respect their bodies."
While technology was blamed for the upsurge in sexual debut among minors, social media expert Gamuchirai Masiyiwa said social media could, in fact, be used to solve the problem.
"Technology can be used to effect behaviour change among minors and it provides the most efficient opportunities to reverse this negative trend among them," she said.
Church leaders argued that sometimes stigmatisation often discouraged parents from reporting such cases, while the disintegration of the family structure had always left minors exposed.
Source - newsday
