Sen Zhou ,rape Victim Speaks Out!
….a women rights activists call for justice for the girl child.
In a disturbing turn of events, a young woman who was working in Senator Ishumael Zhou’s office at the League for the Blind in Bulawayo, has come forward with allegations of rape and abuse of power against the influential Senator of Persons with Disabilities, who also doubles up as the Chairperson of the National Association for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH), an umbrella organization of persons with disabilities in Zimbabwe.
The woman who is identified as Angela, detailed how Zhou initially expressed sexual interest in her and pressured her to enter into an adulterous relationship with him.
“I had to choose between having an affair with him or losing my job” Angela recounted. “When I refused his advances, the harassment started. He made false accusations against me at work, clearly just to frustrate me.”
Angela said that when she was eventually raped by Zhou, he threatened her saying no one would believe her accusations against such a powerful figure and also because Zhou is blind. She reported the incident to some authorities, including the current female Senator of Persons with Disabilities, Annah Shiri, but claims their actions were “clearly bought” to protect Zhou.
“I told Senator Shiri everything about the rape, thinking that as a mother and a woman she would feel for me and help me, I also told her about the forgery that Senator Zhou was doing for elections of Senators, but to my surprise Senator Shiri got attracted to the forgery, and ignored my problem. I watched helplessly, as she joined Zhou in the forgery game and they became close friends. I’ve given up on getting any justice” Angela said dejectedly. “I just want to try to move on with my life at this point.”
The relevation of Angela’s story comes on the heels of a leaked audio recording where the Sightsavers backed Senators Zhou and Shiri have both been fingered in partnering with a government official, Given Shamiso Kabayahwaro to engage in fraudulent activities that would ensure a win for Zhou and Shiri as Senators of Persons with Disabilities.
This has sparked outrage among Zimbabwe’s disability constituency, with Vongai Mutokoti the Chairperson of the War Victims Association, whose membership consists of victims with disabilities, calling out Sightsavers, Zhou and Shiri on their unethical behavior, which is causing a lot of despondency in the broader disability constituency and also denting the once cordial relations that existed between constituency members themselves and between the constituency and government.
The leaked audio has raised serious questions about the conduct of Senators of Persons with Disabilities and the influence of external factors, such as the British NGO Sightsavers, in the country’s disability politics. In leaked audios Zhou vows that he will continue to be the Chairperson of NASCOH and the Senator of Persons with Disabilities for as long as he lives and that he has full support of Sightsavers.
Considering Shiri’ s history of being a self-centered power-hungry woman, it is not surprising that she chose to conceal Angela’s rape ordeal, in favor of partnering with Zhou to forge their way into senatorial positions.
Shiri who also doubles up as the President of the National Council of Disabled People in Zimbabwe (NCDPZ), is well known for having used tactics that appear clean on the surface but that are very dirty, to wrestle this position from Obadiah Moyo, who is the rightful leader, but whom she “violently” kicked out of the organization.
As the details of these scandals continue to unfold, many are calling for a closer examination of the conduct of powerful figures like Senator Ishumael Zhou, and Senator Annah Shiri, and a reckoning with the complex dynamics shaping the landscape of the country’s disability constituency of today.
