A South African gender activist has called on victims of rape to speak out, as she recounts her ordeal in the hands of her dad.

In a recent interview with Dailysun, Zizo Apleni, 24, said was seven when the first incident occurred. Zizo said she used to visit her father often. “As I was young, I didn’t know what he was doing was wrong.

I only found out what he was doing after our hostel manager taught us not to have sex with our boyfriends. When I got home, I told my father what our hostel manager told us.

He started threatening me and said I should never report it, because no one would believe me,” she said.

Her mum didn’t know about it until 2013, when Zizo fell pregnant.

“I told her my father had been raping me for years. We reported it to the police and he was bust the same day. I was helped to abort the baby. In 2016, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. My mum was very supportive,” she added.