Street boys in Bulawayo are allegedly being targeted for sexual abuse by well-connected businesspeople who reportedly exploit them to harvest sperm for suspected ritualistic practices aimed at boosting wealth and influence, child protection activists have warned.
Shockingly, despite the severity of these violations, legal action remains rare due to fear, lack of reporting and systemic failures in law enforcement.
Social workers and activists working directly with street based children say boys under the age of 18 are lured with food, money and drugs before they are exploited.
Some are forced to engage in sexual acts with women in cars while businesspeople collect their semen in condoms, allegedly for ritualistic purposes.
Others are taken to homes where they wash in tubs, given food allegedly laced with drugs.
A child protection activist and social worker with the Thuthuka programme for vulnerable children run by Scripture Union Zimbabwe, Best Ndlovu, provided harrowing details of the abuse to journalists during a recent project visit organised by the National AIDS Council (NAC).
“The boy child is abused by individuals, or the abuse happens amongst themselves where they sexually abuse each other, or are sexually abused by businesspersons, which of late is trending,” she said.
“The business persons want sperm from them, to use for their businesses.”
Ndlovu explained how the exploitation unfolds.
“A child will tell us during our quarterly sessions on HIV and SRH that a person will come and say, ‘I have my wife here, please sleep with her’ and they sleep with her in the back of the car and the business person will be in front,” said the social worker.
“What he does is to change condoms and give them to the boys. The businessperson will tell one boy to look for three boys and give them money. When one boy is finished having sex, the businessperson takes the condom. When the boys are three, you know the person has three condoms.”
The boys are first lured with food, often spiked with substances that leave them disoriented.
Source: CITE
Source: CITE
