Zimpapers Logo

Masvingo Correspondent
Traditional leaders have been challenged to play a leading role in the fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) to ensure peaceful co-existence among families in rural areas where the majority of Zimbabweans live.

Masvingo Provincial Development Officer in the Ministry of Women and Youth Affairs Mr Joseph Mupinga said there was need for regular engagement of rural communities by traditional leaders to ensure peaceful resolution of differences within families.

Mr Mupinga, who was addressing a community leaders’ workshop here recently, said traditional leaders were the vanguard of the ongoing Government’s thrust to align family laws with the Constitution.

‘’It is our hope that traditional leaders will be at the forefront of mediating in intra-family differences to make sure cases of Gender-Based Violence go down,” he said.

“Traditional leaders have a lot of influence within their communities and they can employ that influence to promote peaceful co-existence amongst families, particularly in rural areas.’’

Mr Mupinga said the new administration led by President Mnangagwa wanted zero-tolerance of Gender-Based Violence as part of the 100-day plan.

Addressing the same workshop, Masvingo provincial chiefs’ assembly representative Chief Marozva (Mr Phillip Mudhe) said it was crucial for traditional leaders to be allowed to mediate in some Gender-Based Violence cases before they were taken to criminal courts. He said mediation by traditional leaders would ensure continued peace within feuding families.

‘’It is wrong to just send people to jail for cases that would not have been investigated properly,” said Chief Marozva.

“Some of the cases need to be handled by traditional leaders to ensure peace and harmony within families. Imagine, if a woman reports a case of GBV against her own husband and the husband is sent to jail. Would you think the same couple will co-exist peacefully when the husband comes back from jail?’’

Chief Marozva accused some women of abusing some of the country’s laws to suit their selfish needs. He expressed concern over the rampant abuse of the maintenance law by women in the country.

‘’Maintenance laws are crucial to ensure the upkeep of children, but it’s bad to turn them into tools of milking men,’’ he said.

Also put under spotlight at the workshop were issues of property rights, inheritance law and wills. Traditional leaders in attendance at the workshop were challenged to make sure the knowledge they gained cascaded to all facets of rural communities to promote peace and harmony.

Besides traditional leaders, the workshop was attended by representatives from the National Prosecuting Authority, the academia and officials from the Ministry of Women and Youth Affairs drawn from the seven administrative districts in Masvingo.