About three out of 10 Zimbabwean women are gang-raped when they try to cross the Limpopo River to South Africa.

This was revealed by Prof Lesiba Matsaung of the United Reformed Church and founder of a boys’ and girls’ shelter in Nancefield, Musina.

Matsaung said his girls’ shelter received between 20 and 30 females every week, while the boys’ shelter received between 30 and 50 men every week. "All of them jumped the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa illegally. Some of the females are as young as 13. When they arrive here, some tell us that they were gang-raped at the border. Some are also raped here in Musina by people who lure them to secluded areas after promising to help them with shelter, jobs and food," said Matsaung.

However, Matsaung said most of the people who reveal their ordeal are young women. Elderly women, especially married ones, do not want to disclose their ordeal because they are afraid that their partners or husbands will dump them. "Young women are the ones who inform us about their ordeal. We then take them to Musina Hospital for treatment. We also have people who offer counselling to the rape victims,” he added.

He emphasised that most of them do not want to open criminal cases “out of fear for victimisation from the perpetrator. ” He added that many women choose not to reveal their experience, as they are too traumatised and ashamed.  Some just reveal it “so that they can get treatment," said Matsaung.

Matsaung, who described the rape incidents as horrible, said some of the people who came into the shelter were suffering from HIV/Aids. “Some of them come in a critical condition and they ended up dying.”

Since the shelters started operating in 2008, most of the people come and stay for a while when they arrive before they leave for other places. Most of them have Gauteng as their destination.

Many arrive at the centre on their own while others come with police, social workers and officers from Doctors without Border. Because of the high number of women who come into the shelter who are victims of rape, Matsaung said they have now opened a section which accommodates women who are rape victims, so that they can get special treatment and counselling to recover quickly.