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	Needs Sex Offenders' Register By Mduduzi Mathuthu New Zimbabwe November 29, 2006 http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/storiesfrommanyplaces10.15012.html Statistics released by the United Nations' Children's Fund (Unicef) last week say a child is abused in Zimbabwe every hour. Last year alone, Unicef said 8 600 cases of child abuse were reported. That is 24 cases every day. Depending on your reading speed, it is a grim reality that by the time you finish reading this article, at least one child would be at the receiving end of some form of abuse. "More than half of all cases reported involve sexual abuse of children," said James Elder, the Unicef spokesman in Zimbabwe. He added: "Cases of abuse against Zimbabwean children appear to be spiralling out of control." I will not pretend I know how it feels to be a parent whose child has just suffered sexual abuse. I will also not attempt to step into the shoes of a victim, because I have no clue how it feels to be powerless and violated. However, not being a victim, or relative of a victim, does not excuse our inactivity in this growing culture of sexual cannibalism allowed to thrive and fester in our communities. There are rich, sexually-frustrated and fat men who derive a sickening thrill from holding girls -- young enough to be their daughters -- in their perverted thrall. These men, the kind that Joseph Goebbels once described as "peculiar people whose life is either behind them or have no right to have one ahead of them", scour the poor townships and villages looking for young girls to satisfy their sick fantasies in exchange for a few dollars. Many of these young girls, usually orphans, soon discover that they have either been infected with the deadly HIV, or are pregnant by some of these men. Their lives changed forever. Most of these men violently taking the innocence of the children are rich and politically-connected sexual beasts who otherwise should be role models in their communities. Zimbabweans up and down the country know who these people are. They know where they live, and know their victims. The country urgently needs a sex offenders' register accessible by everyone. We also need to give teeth to our existing laws and impose stiffer penalties on these paedophiles. The formation of a child protection agency to look after victims is also necessary. Those with access to donor funds should stop complaining today and lobby parliament to come down on these perverts in a serious way. ............................................................. Pastor Admire Kasi, the disgraced priest of infidelity who was defrocked by the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God (ZAOGA) church has, until last week, been denying that he has been sleeping with gospel singer Ivy Kombo for years. After temporarily setting camp in the United Kingdom with the singer – purportedly to "spread the word of God" -- the bumbling pastor returned to Zimbabwe last week to announce he is getting married next February. I don't care about his marriage. I do care, however, when Christian values are perverted by a man who curiously insists on being referred to as a pastor – despite years of telling lies and deceiving his suffering ex-wife, Sarah. Kasi has been found out. He is a lying, bible-waving crook who cannot be believed on anything that he says. That's what he is. I hope Zimbabweans that he has been luring to his Sunday gatherings will wisen-up and quit this charade. Ivy Kombo's dance with shame has put her singing career on ice. Rightly so, in my view. ……………………………………............... I always look forward to December because it affords me the opportunity to take a break and travel. It has been a particularly good year for New Zimbabwe.com. We are currently averaging 400 000 hits per day and still rank as the most visited Zimbabwe website on the World Wide Web. These statistics are all the more impressive if you consider the advent of new news web sites and blogs which have entered the online publishing scene. I am humbled by the loyal support of our readers and advertisers who have carried this project from day one. I begin a two-week holiday in South Africa on December 11. Last year, I drew fire from some of our readers with my Jozi Diaries. The truth is that a vast body of our readers appeared to enjoy the sheer honesty of the writings, at least judging from the e-mails I received. The Jozi Diaries were inspired by former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan's Tabloid Tales -- an honest portrayal of a journalist's life, which is almost always punctuated by wild drinking benders and episodes of embarrassment. Will I do it again? Well, what do you think? ……………………………………............. Without risking our exclusive web chat with Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono – a big coup by the way – I couldn't resist sharing with you the following e-mail I received this week: Robert Mugabe, Joice Mujuru and Gideon Gono were flying together in the President's jet. Mugabe suddenly said: "You know what. I can throw $100,000 out of this window and make someone happy." Joyce Mujuru said: "I can throw 10 x $10,000 notes out of the window and make 10 people unbelievably happy." Not to be outdone, the man with national purse Gono said: "I can throw 100 x $1000 notes out of the window and make 100 people very very happy." Fed up with their boasting, the pilot looks at his co-pilot and says: "Listen to those 3 show-offs at the back...I can throw all three of them out of the window and I will make the whole country happy." Mduduzi Mathuthu is the New Zimbabwe.com editor. He can be contacted a: mathuthu@newzimbabwe.com
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