WOMEN Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development minister Monica Mutsvangwa has commended authorities in Matabeleland South for remarkable efforts towards ending child marriages in the province.
Matabeleland South province was second, after Mashonaland Central, in a survey conducted on teenage pregnancies and child marriages, exposing the poor state of sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) services in the drought-prone province.
Local leaders, senior members of the community, community-based organisations were urged to regularly engage each other to come out with practical strategies that would mitigate SRHR challenges faced in communities.
Speaking during the provincial launch of the one-stop centre at Mpilo Central Hospital last week, Mutsvangwa applauded the province for the efforts directed towards ending child marriages.
“I was happy when I was given a report in Matabeleland South yesterday, I was told that they are trying very hard to deal with child marriages, they are working with traditional leaders and religious leaders to make sure anybody who marries off a child who is under 18 years will be liable for it,” she said.
“Everyone who receives the money for dowry will be in for it, the uncles, aunts, grandparents and parents, we want them arrested, they are considered criminals.
“I was also told that the biggest problem they have is teenage pregnancies, and I feel as a girl, who left at a tender age to join the struggle, when I speak about girls, women empowerment, I do that with passion.”
Mutsvangwa encouraged girls to take care of themselves, to have enough time to achieve their goals, adding that they should not be longing for things which parents cannot provide for them, as that will drive them to sugar daddies.
- Govt adopts UN protocol on child rights
- Zim newspapers struggling: Mutsvangwa
- Brand Zim launched
- Aggression won't build Brand Zimbabwe
Keep Reading
The UN estimates that 133 girls and women are killed everyday, meaning every 11 minutes everyday, a woman, or girl dies, one third of women worldwide have been subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner.
