The NewsDay has recently carried out a Facebook survey of young and professional women following publication of Motsoeneng’s story to find out why women seem to be perennial victims of  unscrupulous “healers”.

Prophet Paseka Motsoeneng of the Incredible Happening Church allegedly abused two female congregants as part of a ritual to exorcise them of demons, according to South African media reports.

In Zimbabwe there have been a numerous reports of cases of abuse of women by self-professed healers under the pretext of casting away evil spirits, securing marriages and boosting business, among others.

The survey conducted by Newsday revealed a general consensus that at times women were their own worst enemies as they often trekked to these merciless people who ended up abusing them.

Journalist and gender activist Kholiwe Nyoni Majama said: “It is not even about women being stupid. It is the whole debate around religion, whether Christianity or African traditional some people have just become so obsessive or staunchly religious and forget to look out for the most obvious forms of sexual abuse such as this.”

She added that the problem was prevalent in the Apostolic sects, where she alleged rape abounded and marriages to teenage girls were condoned. RelZim previously reported on such cases.

A marketing executive with a local publishing house, Sichelesile Bafana, said some women go to the healers because of peer pressure.

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