Police officers have been blamed for perpetrating Gender Based Violence (GBV) as they lack proper training on how to handle GBV cases in order to provide timely services to victims.

Speaking during the commemoration of 16 days of activism against gender based violence at the National Gallery in Bulawayo on Friday, Prisca Dube said the ability to deal with GBV issues should be a pre-requisite for all members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police. The commemorations were organised by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).

Dube said victims find it hard to get redress because many justice systems and legal frameworks were poorly equipped for prosecuting GBV. Furthermore, some police officers were not trained in handling GBV issues, so victims felt let down when they didn’t get help after reporting.

“All police officers should be trained on managing cases of GBV. I know of a case where one woman was sexually abused and when she went to report, the officer-in-charge said he could not attend to the victim because he was responsible for stocktheft cases. This makes the victim vulnerable to more abuse,” said Dube.

Women Association of Survivors director Kudakwashe Kunze said it was very hard to deal with sexual harassment because it was institutionalised, and women had suffered for a long time.

“Women are being coerced into sex, while many fear reporting perpetrators as some police are said to be part of the abusive chain.

“We have cases of girls who get raped and in some instances when they report the issue the police officers offer their assistance in exchange for sex. It’s really sad because women really don’t know where to go and report.

“The only way is for government to actively deal with all forms of sexual harassment in all sectors,” said Kunze.-statemedia