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Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
POLICE in Hwange and Victoria Falls have adopted a name and shame campaign to expose perpetrators of sexual violence so as to reduce the incidence of the crimes.The ongoing campaign seeks to encourage members of the community to report cases of sexual abuse to the police on time.

The officer commanding police in Victoria Falls district Chief Superintendent Jairos Chiwona yesterday said the number of reported sexual violence cases was worrying.

“This programme is meant to strengthen protection of the vulnerable group namely young girls and women and emphasising on encouraging reporting of all sexual related cases and exposing the offender, which is why our theme is ‘Sexual violence perpetrators watch out, the law is on to your game.’ There is no room for negotiations with perpetrators of sexual violence, name and shame them,” said Chief Supt Chiwona.

“Sexual violence crimes include rape, sexual intercourse with a young person, deliberate transmission of HIV, sodomy, indecent assault, and to a certain extent domestic violence. Previously we have targeted victims but additional focus now is on the actual or potential offender. You can also help us target this offender.”

The police’s Hwange district commander Chief Superintendent Ben Antonio also launched the same campaign before a crowd of 400 people at Lukosi area recently.  The theme of the campaign is “Be a responsible citizen, don’t by a bystander to report rape.”