Roselyne Sachiti Features Editor
Every month, Zimbabwe commemorates Orange Day, an initiative which encourages individuals to wear orange on the 25th of each month to raise awareness on gender based violence (GBV). Orange Day is part of the United Nations Secretary General’s Unite Campaign to end violence against women. Intimate partner violence against women and the increased cases of women raped at church shrines have been a cause for concern over the years as women suffered in silence because of a number of reasons.

Traditionally, women who did not own any means of production suffered some form of violence by their intimate partners. Yet today, violence against women cuts through all classes of women, the poor, rich, uneducated and educated.

Yet since inception, Orange Day has been somewhat discreet, with most ordinary people not aware of its existence. The discreetness, however, does not take away its worthy cause as the issues that affect mostly women and girls still need to be addressed.

It is not a secret that most women are not safe in their homes, churches and other public spaces like commuter buses ranks. The results of violence perpetrated by intimate partners and other trusted people like relatives and at church shrines are usually catastrophic and reported cases in the media just being a drop in the ocean.

For example, most women who are raped at church shrines are those who usually have challenges with their reproductive health system, cannot afford fees charged by private gynaecologists and seek help from the prophets who they trust.

A case in point is that of Wellington Gase, a self proclaimed prophet of the Johanne Masowe weChishanu apostolic sect in Kwekwe, who was slapped with a 36-year jail term after he raped and infected a congregant with HIV.

The congregant, who suffered continuous menstruation, had sought help from the man of the cloth hoping he would help stop her bleeding.

In another case, Jameson Denhere appeared before a Harare magistrate for allegedly raping a 17-year-old congregant he was “cleansing” during a church service.

Several cases of intimate partner violence have also been reported in various newspapers.

Tendai Mupeteri of Epworth was sentenced to 12 months in prison for dousing his wife with paraffin before striking a match to set her ablaze for failure to prepare him breakfast.

This was after the wife had told him there was no food.

Ex-MDC-T National Assembly representative for Mabvuku Timothy Mubhawu allegedly struck his wife with a machete accusing her of having an extramarital affair with Pastor Manson Munava Mpofu.

These cases just prove how even those, like Mubhawu, well aware of the law still allegedly commit violence against their intimate partners.

In May this year, police expressed concern over an upsurge in domestic violence cases in which couples kill each other and in some instances go as far as murdering their children.

Such cases are not only limited to Zimbabwe as violence against women and girls remains one of the most prevalent human rights violations globally.

A World Health Study (2013) found that globally, intimate partners were responsible for the deaths of 38 percent of all women who were murdered.

Another 42 percent of women who have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a partner had experienced injuries as a result.

The study also cited partner violence as a major contributor to women’s mental health problems, with women who have experienced partner violence being almost twice as likely to experience depression compared to women who have not experienced any violence.

Women experiencing intimate partner violence are almost twice as likely as other women to have alcohol-use problems.

Women who experience physical and/or sexual partner violence are 1,5 times more likely to acquire syphilis infection, chlamydia, or gonorrhoea. In some regions (including sub-Saharan Africa), they are 1,5 times more likely to acquire HIV, according to WHO.

Both partner violence and non-partner sexual violence are associated with unwanted pregnancy; the report found that women experiencing physical and/or sexual partner violence are twice as likely to have an abortion than women who do not experience this violence.

Women who experience partner violence have a 16 percent greater chance of having a low birth-weight baby.

Yet, despite all these chilling facts, the statistics of women who encounter a form of violence seem not to go down at the desired rate.

Even with hundreds of hours of work put in by women’s organisations through advocacy among other activities, the Government through legislation, to put an end to this women are still trapped between a rock and hard place.

Most still have no access to important services that support their safety, health and access to justice.

There is underfunding of programming involving gender based violence, also slowing down efforts to get the message heard.

So when the country commemorates Orange Day every month, the question is what will it take for perpetrators to hear the cry from women, that enough is enough? What kind of message will reach the perpetrators and are they getting what they are currently being told? How many more women should be raped at church shrines for that kind of violence against women to end?

How many girls should be raped by their rich powerful relatives for such to end and which convicted rapist will one day stand up to tell other perpetrators to end gender based violence? How many more women should be doused in paraffin for failing to cook food for their husbands before the whole country joins hands to say no to violence against women?

For all these reasons, Orange Day matters and it is upon every citizen to spread the word. It is also important for Government to strengthen sectoral infrastructure, and collect more data on violence against women to inform evidence based programming.

Coordination in relevant ministries, like the ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Finance and Public Service, Labour and Social Services, Home Affairs and that of Child and Health Care and the Anti Domestic Violence Council among others is important if gender based violence is to be tackled efficiently.

In fact, every day should be Orange Day.

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