Susan Dhliwayo claims she pulled her car over recently to pick up a group of male hitchhikers and they refused to get in, because they feared they were going to be raped.
"Now, men fear women. They said: 'we can't go with you because we don't trust you'," 19-year-old Miss Dhliwayo recounted.
Local media have reported victims of the highway prowlers being drugged, subdued at gun or knife point – even with a live snake in one case – given a sexual stimulant and forced into repeated sex before being dumped on the roadside.
The sperm hunters first surfaced in the local press in 2009 but police have only arrested three women, found with a plastic bag of 31 used condoms in October. The attacks have continued since they were nabbed for allegedly violating 17 men.
"We do not have the exact number of confirmed cases," said national police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena.
The sperm's exact use is not clear but is thought to be intended for "juju" or traditional rituals to bring luck – anything from enhancing good fortune, boosting business or preventing a criminal from being detected.
It is also not known why the semen is taken forcibly from strangers.
Sisters Sophie Nhokwara (26), Netsai Nho...Sisters Sophie Nhokwara (26), Netsai Nhokwara (24) and Rosemary Chakwizira (28) leave Harare Magistrates court on November 29, 2011 after a pre-trial hearing for attacking male hitchhikers to collect semen for rituals.
