The Sunday News
Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent
AS Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in commemorating 16 days of gender-based violence (GBV), a worrying trend where fathers and close relatives have become the main perpetrators of sexual gender-based violence has seemingly emerged.
While poverty has been blamed for being the elephant in the room in the fight against GBV where parents have been found willy-nilly offering their children for marriage in return for food items out of poverty.
A recent trend where men have somehow turned on their hapless children and be the main perpetrators and not protectors is worrying and society should unite to nip the evil in the bud.
The family is supposed to be first line of defence in the fight against GBV and such unscrupulous fathers and uncles have turned homes into hell for survivors.
Recently, a 42-year-old Gokwe man was slapped with an 18-year jail term for raping and impregnating his daughter.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the girl started raping his daughter in September 2019 when she was 14 and the matter only came to light after she fell pregnant.
Gokwe regional magistrate Mr Lungile Ncube suspended four years on condition of good behaviour leaving the man with an effective 14 years to serve.
What is worrying is that the mother of the daughter chose to conceal the matter after the girl reported the matter to her.
It only took the intervention of the community for the man to be arrested after the mother showed reluctance in reporting the case to the police.
Another Gweru man was sentenced to 17 years in jail after reportedly raping his then 15-year-old daughter at knife point.
The girl had been left in the custody of the father by the woman who had gone to attend a church service and the man decided to pounce on his daughter.
Although statistics of such cases could not be readily available, the trend seems to be on the increase.
While stakeholders are busy trying to protect the girl child and the women from the scavengers that are seemingly outside, it seems the house is no longer a safe place after all.
According to the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 34,9 percent of adolescent girls and women aged between 15 and 49 have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 and among females aged between 15 and 49, 11,6 percent have experienced sexual violence in their lives.
According to Msasa Project there were 62 580 victims of GBV since January, up from 40 000 during the same period last year.
Rotina Mafume-Musara of Msasa Project said such cases were worrying and were being fuelled by social scripts that we have written as a society.
She added that the cases of abuse within homes and families were more cultural and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Perpetrators of GBV have taken advantage of the proximity and the Covid-19 induced restrictions which have made it easy for them to pounce on the survivors.
We also have our cultural norms and values which make it taboo for one to report such a case to the police. Our culture is prohibitive of such and girls tend to suffer under the cultural norms even when they were being violated,” said Mafume-Musara.
She said there was need to conscientise the public through awareness campaigns of the dangers of such acts.
“It is important that we raise awareness so that the girls can get timeous help and assistance if need arises. There are negative social scripts that we have written for ourselves that are coming out to haunt us as a nation,” she said.
She said the Marriage Bill could also go a long way in ensuring that the issue of age of consent and that of marriage were harmonised.
“The Marriage Bill will certainly address the issue of the age of consent and that of marriage which is currently a bone of contention,” she said.
The recent trend has drawn the ire of children who feel betrayed by their supposed protectors and possible role models.
Junior Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister who is also Kwekwe Central Junior legislator Precious Hove said such people should be given stiffer and deterrent penalties.
“It’s high time we work towards the same goal of providing justice for the girl child. Justice should start at family level up to Government level. It is very painful to see your supposed protector turning against you to devour you. It is high time we educate the population on the effects of such immoral acts,” she said.
Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) chief executive officer Mrs Virginia Muwanigwa, said the commission noted with concern that cases of GBV in all its forms continue to escalate.
She said the judicial system in Zimbabwe should give punitive and deterrent sentences to perpetrators of all forms of GBV such as sexual harassment and child marriages.
She said the Covid-19 pandemic was also exacerbating such cases as girls could not make reports.
“While a number of positive outcomes have been seen in combating GBV, such as the enactment of the Anti-Domestic Violence Act, the establishment of the Anti-Domestic Violence Council, a gender sensitive constitution and signing of international treaties such as the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention of the Rights of Person with Disabilities among others, the Commission notes with great concern that cases of GBV in all its forms continue to escalate.
The Commission also notes with concern the ever-rising cases of child marriages especially within some Apostolic sects.
The Covid-19 pandemic has heightened the risk and exposure of women and girls to sexual and gender-based violence,” she said.
As a panacea, Mrs Muwanigwa said transformation of the justice system could go a long way in curbing cases of GBV.
“The Commission calls for the recognition that the genesis of GBV lies in gender inequality which compromises that balance between the content of our legislative framework, the responsiveness of structures established to ensure prevention, protection and enforcement against GBV and the norms and values inherent in our cultural beliefs and behaviours.
There is a need therefore to enact the Gender Equality Act that will enable transformation through gender equality and non-discrimination,” said Mr Muwanigwa.
Merjory Nhamoinesu of Shamwari YeMwanasikana believes that the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence would go a long way to ensure that cases of GBV were minimised.
“We continue to implement programmes that improve community awareness on the dangers of child marriages.
We advocate for the incarceration of men who sexually abuse under-age girls in the form of marriage.
It is also unfortunate that we still have families who believe that their children can benefit from these unions,” she said.
With such cases seemingly on the rise, it is up to the nation to bring a stop to this unfashionable scourge when parents sexually abuse their children.
