Zimbabwe women accused of raping men ‘for rituals’

“When I travel I only use buses where people are travelling in numbers now, I won’t get a lift in private cars, especially if there are women inside,” said a man called Witness.

“You must exercise caution, women are raping men, it’s happening.”

Some women in Harare, like Sibongile, worry it is giving their gender a bad image.

“I wish that people could be encouraged to work for their money in a good way. It’s evil that’s gone into women’s heads to cause them to be that greedy, that they want easy money,” she told the BBC in the city centre.

The police have not given a figure for the number of cases reported.

Nakai Nengomasha, a counsellor who is working with three men who say that they are victims of female rapists, believes that there could be more cases who have not come forward.

“I think there has been a lot of under-reporting because the victims will feel not man enough to talk about such issues and that will hinder them from speaking out,” he said.

“They need to deal with denial which comes from a deeply rooted mistaken belief that men are immune to being victimised and that they should be able to fight back if they are truly a real man.

“Some have to deal with the issue of seeing the assault as a loss of manhood and feel disgusted with themselves.”

That is how the man who spoke about his alleged ordeal on television feels, saying he even contemplated suicide.

“I feel violated and disappointed, because when I told my wife what happened, she left me, together with one of our three children. I’m hoping that she will come back.”