Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Jessie Majome
BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
“Words have power, hence the continued use of the term ‘child marriage’ has led to the escalation of this social ill, which is essentially chronic juvenile rape,” Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Jessie Majome has said.
Majome further stated that this injustice has robbed girls of their future, while destroying the country’s moral fibre; thereby everyone has a role to eliminate it.
She was speaking at the National Gender Based Violence multi-stakeholder meeting which was organised by the Women and Law in Southern Africa-Zimbabwe on Tuesday in Harare.
The meeting ran under the theme: “Amplify Voices Against Gender Based Violence.”
“The continued use of the term child marriage is itself a contradiction, it’s an oxymoron.
“Child and marriage are two incompatible concepts. It is an ironic more or less way of perpetuating the very ill that we seek to address.
“Because once we continue saying child marriage, we are actually indicating a tolerance of the notion that somebody who is a child, who is therefore incapable of fully consenting to either sexual relation or the big responsibilities and the duties of being married, the contract of marriage brings, should be married.
“It shows tolerance,” said Majome.
She said by using the words child marriage, this harmful practice has been promoted.
“Words carry a lot of meaning and a lot of power. What we should do is to use words that show zero tolerance to the notion that a child, a girl, can be taken as a wife.
“It is not marriage, it can’t be.
“In my view I can call it chronic juvenile rape or chronic rape of children disguised as child marriage.
“So we have the power to rename it and call it, for example, marital child sexual abuse, because it’s mainly the sexual abuse of children.”
Majome added: “the only reason why those children are in those spaces is for them to be sexually abused and now they are being abused in a context that connotes marriage. So we can actually maybe call it marital child sexual abuse. It becomes clear.
“Child marriage is a definite no-no,” added Majome.
She further reiterated that for a long time, the scourge has been reinforced.
“Let’s call it what it is. It is not marriage. “Children cannot and should not in any way be near marriage. A law outlaws it and it’s not possible. A child cannot be married.”
Dr Mavis Sibanda, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs,Community Small and Medium Enterprises Development
Similar sentiments were echoed by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Permanent Secretary, Dr Mavis Sibanda, who said child marriage is a “demon which needs to be exorcised.”
“Let’s reflect all of us here, we have this demon which is here. Is our society safe?
“Is the future of society safe, I get scared, I’m a mother?
“I think the right word is demon, I think we have to pray and pray hard.
“Let’s pray for our children so that these demons are exorcised,” said Dr Sibanda.
Zimbabwe Gender Commission Chairperson, Commissioner Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe
Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) Chairperson, Commissioner Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe also gave reference to the law, which clearly states that a person can only be married after the age of 18.
“So if she is under the age of 18, then you can’t talk of a marriage. So it think we should just not talk about marriage, it’s an illegal term.
“So I think we shall now all resolve that we should talk about child rape or child abuse or juvenile rape disguised as child marriages.
“We need to coin a term that we use, I think it will help even psychologically to show people the seriousness of this issue, because if you talk of a marriage, people will think that you are sanitising something.
“But if you talk about rape or abuse, then at least people will look at it more seriously,” said Commissioner Mukahanana-Sangarwe.
Commissioner Mukahanana-Sangarwe added that just like any demon, the exorcising shall not be easy.
“We need to be more serious, it is not going to be easy.”
Isheanesu Chirisa, WLSA National Director
Isheanesu Chirisa, WLSA National Director, called for more serious commitment to eliminate the social ill as it “robs the childhood of our young girls, it robs the future of our young girls.
“We often hear that the future is female but with the advent of child marriage in Zimbabwe, we need to be more robust, we need to be more attentive.”
