By Lance Guma
The exiled founder of the Girl Child Network, Betty Makoni, has slammed the Zimbabwean legal system for giving ‘red carpet’ treatment to an adviser of the Reserve Bank Governor, who is accused of raping his 11 year old niece last year.
It’s being reported that Dr Munyaradzi Kereke is suing The Standard newspaper for US$5 million in damages over two articles headed, “Rape Case Kereke Wants to Suppress” and an editorial write-up, “Kereke must have his day in court”. Kereke allegedly raped the girl at his home in the Vainona suburb of Harare.
A furious Makoni whose organisation is representing the victim told our Behind the Headlines programme that Dr Kereke should be suing her and not the Standard newspaper. “He cannot sue the Standard newspaper and leave me. I actually did worse things than The Standard newspaper.”
Makoni narrated how she has been campaigning since last year to have Kereke brought to justice. Using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter she called for a boycott of his ‘post-surgery clinic’ in Mount Pleasant, the Kereke Rock Foundation. Makoni said because of this, most of his businesses are struggling.
Makoni told SW Radio Africa that they had sufficient documentary evidence to secure a conviction against Kereke but that the police docket on the rape case is ‘stuck’ at the Attorney General’s office. The matter was reported at Highlands Police Station in November last year, and police requested a medical report.
The victim was referred to the Family Support Trust unit at Parirenyatwa Hospital, where Makoni said a certified government doctor confirmed the girl had been raped. Part of the evidence in the case also includes a testimony from the girl’s 15 year old sister who, it’s alleged, Kereke also tried to rape at some point.
With the parents of the girls said to be divorced and the mother in the UK while the father is in the United States, Kereke as their uncle was looking after them. On the night in question Makoni told us Kereke, “took a gun, pointed it to the 11 year old girl” before raping her. The girl refused to go school for 3 months after the incident.
Makoni told SW Radio Africa that it was ‘ironic’ that Kereke was being afforded the chance to sue the newspapers for covering the story and yet he was not being prosecuted for raping a young child who could not defend herself. Betty Makoni challenges Gono adviser on rape case by lanceguma
In December 2009 Dr Kereke was one of 75 officials linked to the Mugabe regime who were placed on targeted travel and financial restrictions by the European Union, the United States and the Australian government. SW Radio Africa
