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Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent
AN upsurge in drug and substance abuse has resulted in a sharp increase in cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), hampering the fight against HIV and Aids in Kwekwe District.

This came out during a Kwekwe District GBV steering committee meeting where it emerged that in most cases, either the perpetrator or the victim, are somehow linked to drug and substance abuse.

The district has since established a one stop centre (OSC) which offers health, psychosocial and legal support among other services.

OSC Administrator Mr Admire Chitambo said the period from October to December 2022 saw an upsurge in reported cases at the centre.

“In that period, we received a total of 191 reported cases of SGBV of which 186 of them were female and the remaining were reported by males. We have noted that the issue of drug and substance abuse fuels SGBV cases as well as risk of contracting STIs and HIV. We are fighting HIV through SGBV,” he said.

Of the reported cases, the majority of them were of SGBV but only 23 were reported timeously within 72 hours.

The majority of sexual abuse translating to 89 percent of the reported cases were reported by adolescent girls and young women (aged between 10 to 24) with those aged between 10 to 14 being the worst affected.

Other cases also involved economic, emotional and physical abuse.

Mr Chitambo said the OSC also handled cases to do with legal custodians of SGBV survivors and drafting of protection orders as well as property and maintenance cases.

He said it was worrying to note that the majority of the perpetrators were close relatives or guardians to the survivors.

“The perpetrators in most cases we are receiving are closely linked to the victims and their families and in most cases, they try to sweep the matter under the carpet hence the delayed reporting. We urge survivors to report the abuses in time,” he said.

Sexual abuse

Mr Chitambo said other than drug and substance abuse, some cases were also due to the welfare of the children.

“Some cases are also strongly linked to the welfare status of children like orphans, children staying with step parents and child-headed families. In some cases, we noticed that some parents are not communicating well with their children hence there was a need to improve on parent to child communication,” he said.

Legal expert Ms Ropafadzo Munemo said during the same period, the centre handled 33 domestic violence case, 24 rape cases and a single case of child marriage.

“Most of the cases are verbal, economic and physical abuse. Most of the cases are perpetrated by known relatives, mostly husbands and boyfriends. This is due to the fact that the survivors depend largely on the perpetrator economically,” she said.

The committee unanimously agreed that there was an urgent need to curtail the drug and substance abuse menace in a bid to curb SGBV cases as well as HIV and STIs infections.