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IN the past few weeks, the country has been in collective shock over a couple of incidents that seem to belong more to horror movies than the simple everyday lives of Zimbabweans.
On Monday, our sister paper The Chronicle carried an in-depth interview with a woman whose husband had murdered four of her sisters in cold blood.
Ms Priviledge Dlomo (24) of Chirima Village in Gokwe now resides at her aunta��s homestead in Insiza district after the havoc wrought by her vengeful husband. Ms Dlomo fled from her matrimonial home in Nkayi to her parents in Gokwe after her husband, Dingilizwe Dube (38), who was in South Africa, threatened to kill her.
Dube was bitter that Dlomo, who was trying to fend for three children that Dube had abandoned, was brewing traditional beer for sale in his absence.
After her escape, Dube allegedly followed her to her parentsa�� home and she fled again to Insiza where her aunt lives.
Dube then allegedly vented his anger on Ms Dlomoa��s four siblings who were burnt to death after he allegedly torched the hut they were sleeping in last month.
He is in custody awaiting trial for four counts of murder.
a�?I regret fleeing from my husband because he ended up venting his anger on my sisters. They had nothing to do with our problems yet they paid with their lives,a�? said a tearful Ms Dlomo.
This latest tragedy came after the country was already mourning the loss of another womana��s life, after a man who had been resident in the UK came back to murder his wife in similarly gruesome fashion.
Both incidents sent shockwaves across the country, as the seemingly heartless and downright evil way in which both perpetrators had gone about their shameful business was enough to stop any right thinking person dead in their tracks.
However, while these two incidents were hair rising, it is sad to acknowledge that they are nothing out of the ordinary in everyday Zimbabwe. That in itself is a terrifying statement.
Newspaper pages are awash with gruesome tales that depict the suffering of women in everyday Zimbabwean life. It is not enough that many of them have to carry the breadwinner burden in tough economic times when their better-halves desert them, but many have to suffer through abusive relationships when they settle down with life partners.
Gruesome murders and rape against women have become commonplace, and unless this scourge is tackled head-on, all the strides taken in the drive to emancipate women in the last few decades would have been for nought.
But what is the solution to the domestic violence that fills newspaper pages and breaks up families who wake to homes without a mothera��s touch from out of the blue?
One thing that is clear is that, although emphasis has been put on protecting and advancing the rights of the girl child, it is perhaps now necessary to turn the attention towards boys. This is not to say that the struggle for the girl childa��s right to equal opportunity and dignity in society is over.
It means that the boy child should be educated more about his sense of entitlement that makes him feel like he has the right to impose his will on women. It is this sense of entitlement that drove Dube to decimate his wifea��s family due to her simple desire to feed children that were starving in the face of an errant husbanda��s actions.
If boys are taught early that they cannot impose their will on women and that violence is never the answer, perhaps Zimbabwe will take even longer strides towards the true emancipation of all women.
Online Reporter