Reporting Rape: Part Five in a Global Series
BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE – Dorcas Mbvuto, 32, was raped by a spiritual leader in her church in April 2010 on the outskirts of Queens Park West, a Bulawayo suburb. Three months later, the quiet woman was shocked when she discovered that she was pregnant with his baby, says one of her sisters, who declined to be named.
Mbvuto is a member of the African Apostolic Church, commonly known in Zimbabwe as “Mapositori,” which means “apostles” in the local Shona language. One day, she requested a prayer from her church prophet, a spiritual leader believed to possess the powers to heal the sick and break evil charms and spirits. He told the tall and slim Mbvuto to come to the shrine late in the evening for the prayer.
During the prayer session, the prophet ordered her to take off her clothes so that he could cleanse her of the “evil spirits” that he had divined were the source of her problems, her sister says. The prophet then raped her.
Persistent efforts by her older sisters to force her to reveal the man responsible for her pregnancy were in vain. Suspicious, they started to investigate the case. They eventually discovered what had happened and confronted Mbvuto, but she begged them not to take any action against the prophet. He had threatened her that he would cast evil spirits on her if she reported the case to the police.
“We were always suspicious of the goings-on in this church,” her sister says. “Their shrines are normally located in the bush, and spiritualists from the church conduct prayer sessions with women during the night when there are no other church members. We now know why.”
Mbvuto now has a 1-year-old daughter. Without a steady job, she sustains herself and her daughter by working as a floor polish vendor in the high-density suburbs of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city.
She spends most of her time trudging from door to door with a heavy basket of floor polish tins for sale and her baby strapped to her back with a worn-out bath towel. Her torn and dirty clothes bear testament to the misfortunes that have befallen her.
Like Mbvuto, the majority of rape victims know their perpetrators. Advocates say Zimbabwe has created various laws under which victims can report rape. The government, police and nongovernmental organizations have also collaborated to establish the Victim Friendly System in order to provide specialized services for victims of sexual violence. Still, many say the issue has to be approached from a cultural perspective to combat underreporting and make care and justice accessible to all victims.
There is no national data on the incidence and prevalence of sexual violence, but there is emerging evidence that violence of all types is a significant problem here, according to a joint report by the Zimbabwe government, UNICEF and Save the Children, an international charity.
One in four women ages 15 to 49 surveyed in Zimbabwe’s most recently available Demographic and Health Survey in 2005-2006 reported having experienced sexual violence. Results from the 2010-2011 survey are still pending.
Mbvuto’s sister says that Mbvuto may not be the only woman who has been raped under the guise of cleansing ceremonies.
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