Civil societies in Zambezi District of North-western Province have called for the immediate arrest of people involved in a video circulating on social media involving a naked girl child whose hand and legs were tied while being poured water in public.
District Women for Change Chairperson Philis Samukonga has condemned the act describing it as barbaric and inhuman.
Ms Samukanga said their action is a clear violation of children’s rights and has since called for urgent intervention to protect the young girl by arresting the perpetrators.
“The young girl was defenceless and what they did to her was not right. Regardless of her offence, they have no right to humiliate their fellow human in the manner they did to her,” she bemoaned.
And Zambezi District Women Lobby Chairperson Joy Fundulu has urged law enforcement to expedite the investigation and ensure the culprits are arrested.
Speaking in a telephone interview with ZANIS, Ms Fundula expressed sadness over the incident and bemoaned that women who are supposed to protect girls are in the forefront to humiliate a girl child in public.
She described their actions a gross violation of human dignity and more specifically, a profound act of gender-based violence against a minor.
Ms Fundulu has since demanded for maximum punishment against the perpetrators, noting that anything less than that would set a dangerous precedent towards the violation of children and women.
Meanwhile Zambezi District Commissioner Simeon Machayi has confirmed to ZANIS that so far two people have been arrested and released on bond and will soon appeal in court.
Mr Machayi said investigations in the matter are still ongoing and that efforts to arrest other culprits are underway.
He has since reiterated government commitment to protecting the welfare of a girl child adding all those involved will face the law.
Yet this is Bill Kapinga’s district and he is as mute as a baobab tree sheltering slave traders. Such stories dont excite his boss in Lusaka unless the girl was identified as UPND. What a narrow focus in widely suffering Zambia.