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Mbongeni Msimanga
“WE must do away with child marriages. Girls who end up as brides at a tender age are coerced into having children while they are children themselves.”
These sentiments were said by Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazana Zuma in 2013, at the International Conference on Family Planning in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, slamming the ever increasing child marriages that are being witnessed across the African continent.
Three years down the line, child marriages are still rampant, in fact they have continued unabated within the African system and are in some societies glorified as a normal trend that will give the girl child a poverty escape route.
Sadly, however, child marriages have seen the girl child being hindered from accessing the right to education, exposed to child labour, ill-treatment and abuse from their male counterparts who sometimes are adults — the age of the girl’s father.
In essence, child marriages translate to a life of sexual and economic servitude for the girl child who seems to be ensnared in an ongoing web of abuse and poverty that they cannot escape from.
It then becomes worrisome to have such uncouth tendencies going on in societies without being nipped in the bud with the help of traditional leaders, lawmakers, parents, and the rest of the population that should ensure that these young souls are protected from such a morally illegal institution.
Although the country’s legal statutes ensures protection of the young children or all minors, children’s rights have been trampled with reckless abandon. Section 81 of the Zimbabwean Constitution outlines children’s rights and one of the basic rights as being that of every boy or girl under the age of 18 the right to family or parental care or appropriate care.
According to a 2012 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on ending child marriages, an estimated 15 million girls under 18 years are married worldwide every year. Zimbabwe is among 41 countries with the highest prevalence of child marriages in the world. On average, one out of three girls in the country gets married before their 18th birthday. The report says five percent of women aged 15-49 years currently in marriage or union were married before age 15 (rural 3 percent, urban 2 percent).
Literature from UNFPA and other agencies shows that the problem is more common in rural areas compared to urban areas.
This is because rural dwellers are more exposed to the drivers of child marriage than their urban counterparts. A 2012 UNFPA report based on data collected between 2000 and 2011 across Zimbabwe concluded that women aged 20-24 years and living in rural areas were twice as likely to have been married or in a union before the age of 18 than their urban counterparts, adding that this urban-rural divide has remained at roughly the same level since 2006. Although affecting children across the various sections of society, early marriage in Zimbabwe has also been seen to be prevalent among the Apostolic Sects, especially the Johanne Marange church, which has an estimated membership of 1,2 million people across the country.
The 2012 UNFPA survey concluded that child marriage is highest in Mashonaland Central Province (50 percent), followed by Mashonaland West Province (42 percent), Masvingo (39 percent), Mashonaland East (36 percent), Midlands (31 percent), Manicaland (30 percent), Matabeleland North (27 percent), Harare (19 percent), Matabeleland South (18 percent), and Bulawayo (10 percent) although the report does not provide the reasons for these variations.
There seems to be a deep rooted cultural and religious problem that has permitted child marriages to flourish within the Zimbabwean set up and the trend seems to be going on unpunished. Some religious set ups have even blindfolded families into making them believe that child marriages are spiritually arranged and that the divine intervention cannot be challenged, thus providing a breeding ground for the illegality to persist.
Discussions on the commodification of the girl child mainly took centre stage last year in Parliament when a motion was moved to prevent these marriages and protect children from forced marriages. Not much has been done to solve the problem though, amidst petitions from women to push the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs to end to child marriages through punitive measures. A paltry 300 signatures were received and it seems the campaign has suffered a still birth.
The 18+ Campaign also attempted to end child marriages, but the only positive thing to come out were discussions that were held with traditional leaders to help end child marriages. Much advice was given to the chiefs on morally abusive traditional practices that continue to go unchecked.
In an interview with the Sunday News, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development Nyasha Chikwinya said her Ministry was working on a robust programme that would ensure that child marriages were eradicated. She said there were extensive programmes that would involve schools, churches and chiefs to conscientise the community on the child marriages with a view to nip the illegality in the bud.
“We have so far involved chiefs and we are yet to go to members of the community so that we can involve them in eradicating child marriages that have become a problem not only in Zimbabwe, but in Africa as a whole. We want this matter solved although it will take a little bit of time,” she said.
She said Parliament was in support of eradicating child marriages and there was a drive to realign laws in the first quarter of last year so that women and children’s rights were catered for. With child marriages going unpunished, especially in the rural areas, Minister Chikwinya said the girl children should report the issue of child marriages without fear.
“There is a lot of political will to have child marriages eradicated. In fact, as soon as Parliament resumes, we would like to realign laws so that they are in support of women and children’s rights. The problem that we have is that the girl child does not stand up and talk about these issues and prefer to suffer in silence. All this will change,” she said.
Deputy President of the chief’s council, Chief Mtshana Khumalo said there were collaborative efforts with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and gender activists to curb child marriages, although this was still in its infant stages.
He said they had engaged Plan International and meetings were last year held with chiefs so that they could reduce child marriages in their communities.
“I believe we can reduce child marriages in our communities as chiefs play a pivotal role in educating communities. Recently, chiefs held meetings with Plan International so that they could help reduce child marriages in rural areas.
“There are also robust activities that will ensure campaigns are taken to grassroots levels,” said Chief Mtshana.
He concurred with Minister Chikwinya that the girl children were not reporting such marriages to responsible authorities.
He said there was still a debate on the definition of a child especially in the rural areas as children who reach puberty are considered adults in rural areas.
“People are simply not reporting the cases to the responsible authorities as there is still fear from the girl child. It’s sad that when a girl reaches puberty level, they are perceived to be adults and ripe for marriage. We are working on eliminating all these factors,” he said.
UN Women Zimbabwe Country Representative Delphine Serumaga said child marriages have impacted on economic and social development of children and the issue was being addressed at community and legislative level. She said if child marriages were to end, there was need to realign laws so that they protect the girl child from being abused.
“UN Women takes the issue of child marriage very seriously as it has grave negative impacts on the girl child. Young girls are being subjected to rape, reproductive health risks and damage, psychological trauma not to mention the negative impact on their potential for social, economic and political development.
“As UN Women we are addressing the matter at legislative and community levels. Policy and legal development and reform is essential to align social practices with what is provided in the law in this case what rape and sexual assault of minors is and means in relation to child and women’s rights,” she said.
Ms Serumaga said child marriages were not only a result of cultural aspects, but there were economic and religious factors that lead to the commodification of the girl child and a strict legislative framework that could solve child marriages has to be considered.
“What we have to keep in mind is that it is not only the legal framework that will solve the girl ‘marriage’ problem, there is great need for individuals in communities to abide by the law but also socially believe and understand that child ‘marriages’ are regressive for the girl in particular and the community at large.
“What needs to be understood is that there are some religious and economic reasons why this practice continues, not just cultural. These matters need addressing as well hence looking at the core reasons for such practices without just dealing with the immediate and visible problem of a young girl married off. We must ask ourselves why the practice exists,” she said.
Online Reporter