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Nyore Madzianike Eastern Edition
TRADITIONAL leaders have urged lawmakers to align laws within their jurisdiction with the new Constitution and enable them to effectively deal with cases in their community courts.

They said this in response to President Mugabe’s call for them to help in the fight against rape and sexual abuse cases in their areas in his address during the opening of the 5th session of the 8th parliament.

President Mugabe said the rise in rape and sexual abuse cases was a cause for concern in the country.

Chief Zimunya said although the Legislature was very clear on sexual abuse, there was need to align traditional laws with the new Constitution to allow them to effectively deal with “culprits”.

“There are laws that deal with perpetrators of such offences. As chiefs, we are also aware of such laws, but there is need to align traditional laws with the constitution. There are scenarios in which as chiefs we pass judgments that will be overturned by the magistrates. Under such circumstances, the magistrates would be talking of rights enshrined in the constitution. So, there is need for traditional laws to be aligned with the constitution so that when we make judgments they would be also in line with the constitution,” he said.

Chief Zimunya also said that they had challenges when dealing with child marriages especially in areas where most families attended apostolic church sects.

Chief Mutasa said they had already instructed village heads to report to the chief all cases of sexual abuse.

He said as the chief, he had put in place penalties that would be faced by traditional leaders who “swept such cases under the carpet”.

“We are 100 percent behind the President’s call. I have since engaged traditional leaders in my area and we agreed that anyone who attempts to cover-up for such offenders would be punished. We also agreed that failure to report such offences, either to the police or to the chief, is a punishable offence,” he said.

He bemoaned the increase in child marriages and families who used the girl child as compensation to appease avenging spirits.

Chief Mutasa said he had since resolved to impose stiff penalties on families that give away young girls to appease avenging spirits.

“We have been educating villagers against using the girl child in appeasing avenging spirits. This has been happening over years and we are saying such practices should come to an end,” he said.