Vusumuzi Dube
Johnsias Mutonhori, Sunday News Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) has expressed concern over the increase in the number of young people who are indulging in indecency, drug abuse and early pregnancy saying it is defeating the gains made in the fight against gender inequality.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the 2022 Gender Forum in Kwekwe on Thursday, ZGC commissioner Dr Mercy Nyanguru said, the country was losing the young generation to drugs and early sex debuts which were leading to early and unwanted pregnancies.
“It’s is heartbreaking that we’re receiving a lot of stories of children aged 13 or even below dying because of drugs and alcohol abuse. Reports also suggest that girls are being taken advantage of at parties where drugs are being put in drinks and they end up being sexually abused.
“Young men are dying after alcohol and drug overdose and putting it together with child marriages you find out that we are in a difficult spot as a country,” she said.
Dr Nyanguru suggested that parents should apply traditional ways of bringing up children rather than giving them too much of a soft hand.
“I feel that, we need to step back as parents and think of the basics, the way we were brought up where our parents gave us minimum corporal punishment as well as teaching them Ubuntu/Unhu so that they can become conscious about the right societal expectations and moral uprightness,” she said.
She also pointed out that, the internet has also brought more harm to the morals of the country’s young generation where even the parents have lost control of their children.
“We are no longer raising our children alone but social media is also playing a role. If you don’t track on what is happening in their phones, you might not know that they are exposed to pornographic material and other immoral behaviours that they see on the internet. You may find out that the mother might be behind whilst the child is way ahead,” she said.
Dr Nyanguru highlighted that the fight against child pregnancy must take a holistic approach that involve everyone.
“The blame is no longer confined to sugar daddies. We have seen young children making other children pregnant. The fight requires a multi-dimensional approach and collective effort so that we can find ways to get rid of this elephant in the room before we lose a whole generation,” she added.
Speaking at the same event, Mrs Virginia Muwanigwa who is the chief executive officer of ZGC said the commission had deepened its inquiry after recent cases of a 15 and a nine-year-old girls who got pregnant.
“Because of many complaints about child marriages and media reports, we have intensified our national enquiry. We started to look at exploitation and abuse of children in the communities. We are going around the country speaking to people including young children and traditional leaders in communities trying to find out what are the drivers of early sexual debuts and what can be done to stop them. Very soon we will be publishing the report of the findings we gathered from the outreach and discussion that we had,” she said.
Sidumisile Mabena