Bulawayo East legislator Thabitha Khumalo has given prosecutor General Johannes Tomana a public bashing over child sex.
Khumalo expressed disgust on Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana’s utterances that a 12 year old girl can now consent to sex.
“In Zimbabwe in 1980 the girl child was denied the right to education and the women fought for the girl child to go to school and won,” said Khumalo.
She continued, “now 35 years down the line, the Government of Zimbabwe has a law… and in section 70 of this law ….we are told that a 12 year girl old can consent to sex.
“We have had cases whereby five ‘perverts’ I call them, raped a 13 and 12 year old. They went to court and the judge gave them community service, and they were made to go and work at a school.” Khumalo said.
She urged all the branches and the provinces in the diaspora to support and protect the girl child.
This comes after many people also criticised Tomana’s comments online, for endorsing the idea that girls as young as 12 can give consent. Information Minister Jonathan Moyo also joined in calling Mr Tomana’s interview “outrageous”, and suggesting that his comments compromised his position as prosecutor general.
In Zimbabwe, 4% of girls marry by the age of 15 and 30% by 18, the United Nations says.