By Phyllis Kachere
“CUT down a tree and get a stiffer penalty, axe a woman and get away with a fine!” “Stop murdering women now!”
These were some of the messages on placards carried by hundreds of men and women as they marched the streets of Harare demonstrating against the escalating reported cases of gender-based violence whose victims have been women.
Miffed by recent media-reported cases resulting in several women sustaining serious injuries, the Women’s Coalition (WC), an umbrella body of civil society groups dealing with women’s rights, mobilised hundreds of men and women to march.
The women sang and danced “in defiance of a society that has shamelessly failed to protect them” as succinctly said by a young college activist.
“The recent media report where a law officer in the Attorney-General’s Office, Wallace Chiwawa, pressed a red-hot iron on his wife’s buttocks and raped her six times before sprinkling hot spices on her private parts after accusing her of infidelity triggered our anger.
“As we were still reeling from this provincial marriage officer in the Registrar-General’s Office, Gordon Tsuro, was alleged to have bashed his wife with an axe handle, leaving her with multiple fractures, worsened an already tense situation for us,” WC board member Ms Rita Nyamupinga explained.
The seemingly unexplained delay in arresting Tsuro, who had allegedly boasted earlier that he was above the law since he was a senior civil servant, further vexed the volatile atmosphere.
Police could not immediately release national figures on various forms of domestic violence cases they recorded. But media monitoring done by Musasa Project, an organisation that counsels women who have been abused by their partners, more than 100 domestic violence cases were reported in the national papers in 2010 alone.
According to the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, there is a significant increase in rape cases dealt with at the magistrates’ courts since 2008.
In 2008, a total of 1 115 cases were handled by the magistrates’ courts nationally, but in the following year an upsurge to 1 433 was recorded while in 2010 a total of 1 814 rape cases were dealt with.
But observers laid the domestic violence blame squarely on the women who, soon after the marches, quietly go back to their abusive partners.
They accused the women in abusive relationships of perpetuating the culture of silence.
A senior police officer in the ZRP victim friendly unit, through which domestic violence cases are channelled, said around a third of the reported cased are prosecuted with the majority being withdrawn soon after being reported.
“I have seen women with broken limbs, results of being beaten by their male partners, reporting and immediately withdrawing the cases. That is frustrating for the officer dealing with the matter,” said the police officer.
Some have advocated for the inclusion of a clause that bars withdrawal of reported domestic violence cases.
When the wife of the late Assistant Commissioner Todd Jangara, who has survived violence but has become epileptic after sustaining head injuries, gave her testimonial, the crowd became agitated. Her story insinuated impunity on the part of the senior police officer whom she said was never arrested despite her reports to the police.
While the Domestic Violence Council, a legal body created by the Domestic Violence Act, has been constituted, it is not yet functional due to lack of funds.
Several other activities like the setting up of safe houses, also a requirement of the Act, have been delayed, leaving the Domestic Violence Act semi-functional. Treasury does not appear to prioritise the requirements for the full implementation of the Act.
Where there is a successful prosecution of a gender-based violence case, WC said the penalties seemed to make a mockery of the system
“At most the penalties for domestic violence are not deterrent enough. Usually they are suspended sentences, a month with the option of a fine or community service. And that is not deterrent enough,” said Mrs Netty Musanhi, the director of Musasa Project. -The Sunday Mail
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