Upenyu Chaota/
Ntombiyolwandle Ndlovu
MASVINGO – Elton Mangoma’s Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe (RDZ) Masvingo provincial chair lady, Hilda Sibanda last week broke into tears as she narrated the ordeal faced by women at the hands of state security forces.
Making a presentation during a dialogue meeting jointly facilitated by the National Transitional Justice Working Group Zimbabwe (NTJWGZ) and TellZim News, a teary Sibanda accused state security forces for ill-treating women who are in detention singling out the recent experience of Lynda Masarira at the hands of the police.
People were horrified late last month when a brutalised Masarira emerged from three months of detention with scarred buttocks.
“Today I want to speak on the side of all women. You find out that during the recent wave of protests which rocked the country, the police used a heavy hand against the demonstrators among them women whom they ill-treated.
“Women have had a torrid time in the political history of this country. They have been victimised from all corners.
“During the 2008 run-off elections women were gang raped and many of them have children whom they do not know their fathers. They have been scarred for life and the government just turned the page and no attempts were made to bring the perpetrators to justice,” said Sibanda.
Masarira was arrested in June for participating in protests against the government and was then transferred to solitary confinement in a male section of the Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after she protested harsh prison conditions.
Sibanda claimed that all the women who were detained recently over protests in Harare where flogged and put in same cells with men thus exposing them to rape.
“Lynda Masarira was arrested and was put in the same cell with male prisoners. Where in the world would you hear of anything like that?
“Her rights were violated and nothing happened to the abusive police officers. It would help if we hear that the abusive police officers have been arrested or the government pay some form of compensation to the victim,” said Sibanda before breaking into tears.news
