The popular legal maxim “justice delayed is justice denied” has real meaning for a myriad of gender-based violence victims, their families and communities in marginalised communities in Mashonaland Central province.
The prevalence of gender based violence is alarmingly high and pervasive; globally, one in three women has experienced some form of violence in their lifetime, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Local statistics show that Mashonaland Central province is one of the places across the country with high records of child marriages and gender-based violence.
According to a recent Zimbabwe Demographic Survey, the three Mashonaland provinces have the highest gender-based violence prevalence rate of above 43%.
At the same time, cases of gender-based violence are considerably under-reported in the province and only a handful of women and girls who have ever experienced violence have reported to a formal source such as the police, health systems or social services.
“It was taboo to say it out loud,” said Helen Mufundisi of Shange C village in ward 3, Mbire district.
“Even if you said it out, no one would buy it.”
Mufundisi said under-reporting of gender-based violence has been damaging, thereby perpetuating incidences of such crimes in her area.
- Mr President, you missed the opportunity to be the veritable voice of conscience
- ED to commission new-look border post
- Zanu PF ready for congress
- EU slams Zim over delayed reforms
Keep Reading
“Many cases have gone unreported with some being swept under the carpet while the victims suffer in silence,” she said.
Due to marginalisation, gender-based violence cases in Mbire take a long to be resolved, resulting in hordes of victims unable to heal from traumatic experiences.
Across the world, an estimated 5.1 billion people — two-thirds of the global population — are being failed by the justice system, according to a report published in 2021 by the Task Force on Justice.
The report said that of the 5.1 billion people with no meaningful access to justice, an estimated 1.5 billion — one in five people worldwide — have been left with justice problems they cannot solve.
“One of the major obstacles in accessing justice has been the cost of travelling to the courts in Bindura, which is more than 234km away,” Mufundisi said.
“Imagine, you are coming from a poor family… Where would you get money to go to Bindura?
“So at the end of the day, many people had to sit on their laurels.
“In some cases, perpetrators would skip the border and take refuge in Mozambique or Zambia.”
Child marriages are also widespread and affect hordes of women and girls in Mbire.
The scourge is rife in the area and according to a recent Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee; prevalence of child marriage in Mashonaland Central is 50%, making it the highest in the country.
The survey also revealed that the province has the highest proportion (26%) of children out of school.
Primary and Secondary Education minister Torerai Moyo recently revealed that more than 4 500 girls countrywide dropped out of school after falling pregnant, with 134 of them being primary school pupils.
At 30, Precious Nyatande of Katsine village in Angwa (ward 2) is already a mother of a 17-year-old daughter.
She got married at the age of 13, but she swears that she won’t allow her teenage daughter to follow her footsteps.
“I had always wanted to pursue my studies and go to secondary school,” said Nyatande.
“It would have been a bolt from the blue had I gone to secondary school because it would have been a first in my area if I had pursued my studies, more so being a girl child because further education was regarded as a preserve for boys.
“It was ‘taboo’ for children in my area to go to school because many people before us never went to school.”
Nyatande said there was a shortage of schools in the area, which compelled some pupils to walk about 20km to the nearest school through the wildlife-infested forests.
“Even when the parents wanted to send us to school, the schools were far away,” she said.
“In our case, you would have to walk 8km to Chitima Primary School.
“Those in infant classes would not go every day while those in junior classes would drop out of school due to exhaustion.”
She said a school was built in the nearby Mazambara area where pupils walk less than 2km.
A 2018 survey conducted by the Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe revealed that in addition to the distant schools in Mbire, hunger and lack of proper clothing, including uniforms for children, hindered access to education in the area.
For Nyatande, she is much concerned about her daughter whom she vowed to guard jealously against “predators”.
“I will do everything possible to keep her in school and support her in whatever she wants to do as long as it does not harm her,” she said.
“I always sit down with her and talk about sexual and reproductive health.”
Nyatande described child marriages as an elephant in the room, something she said was causing gender-based violence.
Lack of weak access to justice systems, poor enforcement of laws and lack of reporting mechanisms have been barriers to preventing child marriage in Mbire district.
“It was unheard of to report cases of child marriages,” said Mufundisi.
“The situation is exacerbated by the fact that there are no transparent justice systems and structures of accountability.”
Mufundisi said levels of insecurity were so high that women and girls found it hard to seek justice in Mbire.
She said harmful traditional practices also perpetuate violence against girls and women in the area.
For the poor girl and woman in Mbire, traditional justice systems are the only ones they can access.
However, despite being close to the people and easily accessible, traditional justice systems lack connection of decisions with human rights, especially failing to ensure equal rights for girls and women.
“As traditional leaders we have been doing our best to provide justice as far as gender-based violence is concerned,” said village head Katurura (born Chrispen Dube) in ward 3.
“However, as custodians of traditional norms and customs we don’t tolerate violence against women.
“Although our modern courts are far away, we have been encouraging people to report cases of gender-based violence to the police.”
Village head Katurura conceded that the long distances were hindering people in his area to access justice.
“It’s very expensive to access justice; you have to sell your livestock for you to travel to Bindura to the courts and now Guruve,” he said.
“We are happy that we now have the courts in Guruve, but we appeal to authorities to bring the courts here at Mushumbi Pools.”
To expedite justice on cases of sexual abuse and gender-based violence in Mbire district, Katswe Sisters in partnership with the National Aids Council introduced vouchers where they are paying victims to attend court sessions or visit police stations.
“We are implementing the SASA programme which we introduced with the hope of putting an end to child marriages and gender-based violence,” said Katswe Sisters programmes officer Chipo Jongoro.
“We assist victims of rape and gender-based violence to make reports promptly to the police,” she said.
“We also assist them to go to the courts or police stations through a voucher that allows them to pay for transport and food.”
Jongoro said they were also rolling out awareness campaigns across the districts targeting communities where child marriages are widespread, particularly in areas that have the Doma people.
“We are happy that communities have embraced our awareness campaigns that also involve both men and women,” she said.
“Traditional and religious leaders are part of the programme and we believe their involvement will influence their subjects to do the right thing.”
NAC district coordinator for Mbire Claudius Musandaira said they were witnessing the impact of the SASA programme since its inception in the district in 2019.
He said NAC in partnership with development partners has come up with a cocktail of intervention strategies meant to curb child marriages, gender-based violence and new HIV infections.
Musandaira said one of the success stories of the SASA programme was bridging the access to justice gap for victims of gender-based violence.
“We are seeing an increase in the number of police reports of gender-based violence cases,” he said.
“The SASA project is doing wonders in as far as raising awareness about gender-based violence is concerned.
“In the past cases of gender-based violence would be swept away, but through these programmes being implemented we are seeing improvements.”
Musandaira said apart from supporting victims of gender-based violence to access justice, the SASA project has helped them advocate for the establishment of a court in Mbire.
“Through this programme, we have approached relevant authorities for the establishment of a court here at Mushumbi Pools,” he said.
“We also advocated for the establishment of the courts in Guruve, but still we feel it is far away and could be an impediment to accessing justice for victims of gender-based violence.”
Musandaira said gender-based violence – including child marriage – is also associated with poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes such as HIV infection.
There is a huge legal gap considering that the SASA programme is being implemented in two out of 17 wards in Mbire.
Judiciary Service Commission spokesperson Daniel Nemukuyu did not respond to questions sent to him via WhatsApp last Thursday.
Zimbabwe has great laws and goodwill to end gender-based violence, including child marriages.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently assented to a law that criminalises sexual relations with persons under the age of 18, while outlawing the defence that the child consented.
The Criminal Law Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons Act) 2024 (Number 1) also makes infecting a child with sexually transmitted infections a serious offence.
Apart from laws, the country has put in place strategies and programmes to curb child marriages and one such is the “Not in My Village” campaign.
Driven by the Young People's Network on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, HIV and Aids, the "Not-in-My-Village" takes a unique approach by engaging traditional leaders and key opinion figures as champions for positive change.
The campaign, which was recently launched in Mashonaland Central province, is meant to tackle teen pregnancies and child marriages.
