Corruption is not just a governance issue. It is a gender-based violence issue.
Because every time a perpetrator buys freedom, pulls political strings, or walks out of court untouched, a survivor is revictimized.
Zimbabwe has witnessed cases where power, proximity to influence, and deep pockets have done more to determine outcomes than evidence ever could.
Sexual assault cases disappear. Files “vanish.” Dockets are “misplaced.”
Convicted rapists serve a fraction of their sentences while survivors watch justice dilute, painfully, and publicly.
Some perpetrators even brag about being untouchable. And often they are right. Because corruption protects predators.
And when the system protects predators, survivors stop reporting. Why walk into a police station if someone else’s cash or surname writes the ending?
Why testify when you know the outcome has already been negotiated behind closed doors?
A broken justice system is a breeding ground for GBV. Not because laws are insufficient, but because enforcement is optional for some and inescapable for others.
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If we want 16 Days to mean something beyond hashtags and orange ribbons, corruption must be named as part of the violence. It's time to name the problem and act against it. Prove it exists through hard facts. Shame power into acknowledging it. Then deploy a structured approach to closing the loopholes that are letting the rape and assault perps get away with it.
Let's build a system of zero-interference justice:
🔹 Where no case disappears without explanation
🔹 Where no perpetrator is released without notifying the survivor
🔹 Where no powerful man or woman receives “special handling.”
🔹 Where no prosecutor, lawyer, magistrate, or police officer treats GBV as a negotiable offense.
🔹 Where every report moves with speed, transparency, and follow-through
Because slow justice is injustice. Bought justice outcomes are violence unchecked. Until the day all survivors know that reporting leads somewhere, Zimbabwe will keep recycling trauma and calling it culture.
It is time for the justice system to prove it serves everyone and is not a malleable tool for the powerful and connected.
Corruption enables rape. Corruption silences victims. Corruption is GBV.
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