Tendai Gukutikwa Mutare Bureau
Eight discreet safe spaces for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survivors in Manicaland Province have been established, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, has said.
She was speaking yesterday during the national launch of the 16 Days of Activism against GBV at Hauna Growth Point in Mutasa District.
Minister Mutsvangwa said Government remained committed to ending GBV in all its forms across the country.
This year’s commemorations are being held under the theme, “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and children”.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2019 showed that 34 percent of girls in Zimbabwe are married before the age of 18, five percent are married before their 15th birthday and 2 percent of boys in Zimbabwe are married before their 18th birthday.
Minister Mutsvangwa said the figures indicate the magnitude of the GBV challenges in the country, hence the need for more such safe spaces for GBV and child marriage survivors.
The safe spaces established in Manicaland Province are in the form of three safe shelters and five one-stop-centres across the province.
Minister Mutsvangwa said under the Global Spotlight Initiative programme, which was also being implemented in Manicaland, the Government, with support from the United Nations and European Union, has made a commitment and a declaration to end GBV and harmful practices.
“This has seen the establishment of three GBV shelters in Marange, Buhera and Mutasa as well as five one-stop-centres located in Makoni, Buhera, Chipinge, Chimanimani and Mutare,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
She said the signing and launch of the high level political compact on ending gender-based violence and harmful practices in Zimbabwe by President Mnangagwa, together with the other stakeholders, was evidence enough that the country seeks to end GBV.
Minister Mutsvangwa implored religious and faith-based leaders to take an active role in preventing GBV and harmful practices, saying they were part of the most important group of people who shape social beliefs and practices.
“As we mark the beginning of the commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, I want to appeal to our traditional leaders and religious leaders to play a pivotal role in prevention of GBV and harmful practices,” she said.
“As a society, we must be alert and expose such criminals that are robbing children of their future and ensure that they are brought before the law.
“Our Constitution is very clear on who a child is and who can enter marriage, but despite that we still have young girls who are taken into marriage where they are expected to assume adult roles as brides.”
The Marriages Act Chapter 5:17 outlawed child marriages by setting the age of marriage at 18 and criminalising child marriages.
Minister Mutsvangwa said it was, therefore, imperative that the country takes advantage of such progressive legal framework and push for an end to child marriages.
The minimum mandatory sentencing for convicted rape perpetrators has been set at 15 years, a great stride towards justice delivery.
Minister Mutsvangwa said Government had put in place various policy measures and strategies to respond to child marriages, with one ensuring that girls remain in school.
Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Advocate Misheck Mugadza, said the province had a fair share of incidences of GBV, with child marriages being more pronounced and a cause for concern.
He said hosting the event in the province would go a long way in raising awareness against the two menaces in the province, in the spirit of leaving no one and no place behind.
United Nations Resident Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon, said the UN and other UN agencies in the country will continue to initiate programmes that help build the capacities of communities to be able to prevent and respond to cases of GBV.
“Such interventions like safe shelters and one-stop-centres are critical in ensuring sustainable means of preventing and responding to GBV and UN agencies will continue to implement and fund them in Zimbabwe,” he said. – The Herald
