Sipho Mazibuko arrested for demo against rape injustices

The founder of Mr and Miss Rural Zimbabwe, Esteemed Businesswomen Zimbabwe and Mental Voices Trust, Sipho Mazibuko, has been arrested for disorderly conduct, as she was planning on staging an illegal demonstration outside the Bulawayo magistrate's court this morning.

She was arrested together with Mr and Miss Rural title holders, as well as her aides.

Mazibuko, before being escorted onto a police van, claimed she was seeking justice for a 16-year-old rape victim.

"All the witnesses in the case are scared to testify because the accused's family has been threatening them," said Mazibuko.

She alleged that the courts threatened to dismiss the matter if witnesses failed to testify.

The case involves the complainant's uncle, a cross-border lorry driver who stands accused of repeatedly and heinously violating his 16-year-old niece under the false pretence of "healing" her ailing mother's undiagnosed illness.

This alleged deceitful manipulation allegedly resulted in the accused raping the victim on 10 separate occasions.

The horrific abuse came to light when a courageous whistle-blower from Mabheleni Village in Mbembesi,

Matabeleland North Province reported to Mazibuko that a teenager was being abused by her uncle.