Africa-Press – Tanzania. FOLLOWING a recent wave of women and children killings in Zanzibar, child rights activists here have issued fresh calls on authorities to crackdown on perpetrators.
Figures from the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) showed that at least two women and one child were murdered during the past one month.
“We call upon law enforcement agencies to take strict action against offend- ers.
This is unacceptable,” TAMWA Director in the Isles Dr Mzuri Issa said in a press statement.
The association wants the police and other law en- forcement agencies to ensure that suspects are arrested and brought before the court.
“It is unfortunate that most of the assaults and kill- ings of women and children end without legal actions, a situation which disheartens victims and frustrates cam- paigns against Gender Based Violence (GBV),” Dr Issa said.
According to the state- ment, a 23 year old Sumaiya Mohamed Said, who was living in Jambiani Kikadini, South Region Unguja is al- leged to have been killed by a 38 year-old Imani Abdallah Abdallah nicknamed Ki- cheche.
Another incident is the attack on Raya Khamis Mgeni (45), a resident of Fuoni -Nyumba Mbili, Urban West Region- Unguja.
The attacker is alleged to have stabbed a mother carrying an infant aged less than a year, who died instantly and the mother is fighting for her life at Mnazi Mmoja hospital.
Ms Mgeni said the atacker broke into her house demanding her to drop her child but when she resisted, he attacked her and the child with a knife.
“I still do not know the motive behind the attack, but recently I won a case in court and the loser threatened to kill me.”
Police statement to the press states that investigations were underway, but no suspect was arrested.
TAMWA says that only two murder cases of children and women out of 19 cases recorded between 2016 and 2021 were reported and heard in court, while the rest ended silently.
“We kindly ask the po- lice to act tough to end the abuses. We want justice to take its own course,” said Dr Issa.
