CHIEF Sikhobokhobo of NkayiDistrict in Matabeleland North Province has called for the restoration of morals within communities and to ensure that corruption is nipped in the bud when dealing with cases of injustice.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday last week, Chief Sikhobokhobo revealed that cases of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and sexual abuse were being swept under the carpet after parties solved issues outside the justice system.
“I call on the media to work with traditional leaders so as to get issues happening on the ground, especially concerning women and children. There are issues of children that are falling pregnant and it disturbs me that people are doing such things.
“We are calling on the police to also work with us and deal with such matters, it is sad that sometimes issues are swept under the carpet. At the end of the day, it is me and the victims who have to face each other, the assumption will be that I did not do enough to have the issue prosecuted and they lose trust in the traditional leadership system,” he lamented.
The chief said he recently encountered a villager who was stabbed with an arrow and he had to take them to the hospital but said nothing was done to the perpetrator who is still walking scot-free in the village.
“Such issues are a problem as failure to get people arrested leads to many more crimes being left unsolved and communities taking the law into their hands on the perpetrators, thus further exacerbating the problem.”
He said cases must be dealt with as soon as they happen and they must go through the courts so that justice is served and victims are safe from their abusers.He said he was not going to sit and watch children being sexually abused.
Chief Sikhobokhobo also bemoaned the prevalence of child marriages in the district, saying there was a need for society to work together towards tackling the practice as it has ruined the future of many children.
“Child marriages are a cancer, we need, as traditional leaders, to work with the police to ensure these are nipped in the bud. When you find a pregnant child, sure enough in many cases the perpetrator comes to marry the child. But what of the child and the innocence that will have been ripped off them?
