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The French general Napoleon Bonaparte had a successful reign as the Emperor of France in the 19th century partly due to his emphasis on protection of the family institution.
In other words, strong families are building blocks for strong nations, a concept Zimbabwe would do well to internalise.
News that 1 102 couples applied to have their marriages terminated at the High Court in Harare and Bulawayo since January are strong indications that the family institution is crumbling rapidly and needs to be protected as it is fundamental to creating a prosperous nation, social experts have said.
High Court records for January-July 2015 revealed that 820 couples approached the court in Harare seeking to have their marriages ended, and another 129 wanted their marriage certificates annulled.
According to the records, 282 divorce requests were made in Bulawayo and 44 of them were processed with the majority of couples citing irreconcilable differences.
This comes a fortnight after High Court Judge Justice Erica Ndewere presided over 22 divorce in one day.
Statistics also show that the High Court has handled about 4 500 divorce applications in the last two years. Of these, some 1 600 were granted.
The statistics only reflect unions under the Marriages Act and exclude those under the Customary Marriages Act – meaning the number of divorces could be greater.
It is in the wake of these developments that analysts have called for Government and other stakeholders to protect the family institution as its welfare goes hand-in-glove with that of the nation as a whole.
They say divorce, which has greater negative impacts on children, affects their grooming thereby making them less principled when compared to children who grow up in an environment where parents are in accord.
Experts add that it is in the family that good morals and basic survival skills are taught. And with Zimbabwe being affected with various social ills as evidenced by the deep-rooted corruption, infidelity, sex tape leakages, fake prophets and escalating divorces, analysts concerns are founded.
Observers say the impact of moral decadency on the economy cannot be over-emphasised as millions of dollars are lost every year through corruption, a development which is regarded as a moral issue by analysts.
While some sections of the society blame the rise on fraudulent marriages for the rise in divorces, social experts still believe the family institution is crumbling due to a declining social fabric.
Infidelity alongside the emergence of social media have been blamed as the one of the major causes of marriage terminations.
Davison Kanokanga, a senior pastor with Impact Christian Centre, predicted the scourge to continue until a systematic approach is made towards arresting the problem.
“The marriage institution is, indeed, crumbling and will continue to do so until a time when we are able to identify where we are missing it,” he said.
“There are many reasons behind the scourge and the advent of social media as well as moral rot are just some of them.
“These days we have people who are getting married after dating on social media platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp despite not knowing much about each other’s characters. They are people who want the benefits of marriage but do not want to endure its challenges.
“People are also getting into marriage for wrong reasons which vary from financial gains, societal pressure and some for business conveniences.”
Pastor Kanokanga said economic hardships which have led to scores of men and women to go and work in the diaspora, leaving behind their spouses and children, has also contributed to the bane.
“On the other hand, long distance relationships are also to blame as many spouses are leaving in different countries and cities thereby making themselves vulnerable to temptation.
“All of this at the end of the day is happening because people are failing to appreciate that marriage is a God given institution. To solve this problem people should make an effort to make their emotional connection alive by way of attending marriage seminars. It also helps to maintain good communication because these days’ people seem to care much about their phones rather than their partners.”
Social commentator and Mother Mai Rebecca Chisamba blamed the sprouting of many churches saying a lot of them are subjecting couples to arranged marriages.
“It is sad to say but marriage no longer has a meaning in modern era. The sprouting of churches has really swept away the right of individuals to choose who they want to marry.
“They are being paired with people they do not love all in the name of marrying in the same church to keep the doctrine. In families people are also being used as business pawns as they are being ushered into relationships by parents who want to advance certain business interests. There is also peer and societal pressure to blame, people getting into marriages because they have passed the age that they are expected to marry or because a younger sibling has done so.
“So we have made marriage very cheap and we need to go back to the drawing board and really introspect why we want to marry and why we want to marry that particular person.”
Women’s rights activist and chairperson of the Woman’s Coalition Virginia Muwanigwa said couples nowadays are simply incompatible, a situation she says has led to domestic and gender-based violence.
“These numbers (statistics) have something to do with sociological issues. It really points to an issue of people not knowing the reasons why they enter into marriage because most of these break-ups are as a result of couples not being compatible with each other and having so many differences.
“You will note that as a result of incompatibility, couples end up engaging in violence and the end result is divorce,” she said.
Female Prisoners Support Trust director Rita Nyamupinga blamed abuse as a main driver of splits.
“With a lot of violence between couples, it is recommended they divorce because staying in an abusive relationship results in people losing their lives,” she said.
“The other factor that has contributed to these divorces is our economy which forces partners to stay in long-distance love. You find a husband staying and working in Mutare when the wife is in Bulawayo. In the end, the two tend to lose faith against one another and begin to accuse each other of infidelity. So as a result, parties end up quarrelling and the end result is divorce.”
Divorce lawyer and social worker Miss Rosario Muropa sighted infidelity as the main cause of divorces in Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter