By Michael Gwarisa, Mutorashanga
A Zvimba traditional leader, Chief Gibson Jenami Katizagombo, has raised alarm over a growing trend in his community where parents are exploiting the absence of birth documentation to mislead authorities and legitimize early child marriages.
According to a 2015 study titled The Face of Child Marriages in Mashonaland West, key drivers of child marriages in the province, particularly in Zvimba District, include poverty, religion, culture, peer pressure, and teenage pregnancies, among other factors.
Speaking to HealthTimes on the sidelines of National Women’s Day commemorations in Mutorashanga—hosted by Population Solutions for Health (PSH) in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development—Chief Katizagombo lamented the widespread culture of shielding perpetrators of sexual abuse in Zvimba.
There is a growing and worrying trend here in farming communities. Most children do not have birth certificates, and now we see parents of victims protecting the abusers by lying that their daughters have reached the age of consent (18) just to shield perpetrators from arrest and prosecution,” said Chief Katizagombo.
He added that parents were striking secret deals with perpetrators and sending off their underage daughters into early marriages, taking advantage of the lack of official documents to verify the girls’ actual ages.
“When these girls appear in the Chief’s court, and there is no documentation to prove their age, it becomes difficult for us to assist relevant authorities in bringing the abusers to justice. Sometimes, we find that the girls are as young as 12, yet the parents will go to great lengths to convince us that they are of age,” he said.
He further noted that communities in farm compounds often protect each other, making it even harder to expose and address abuse. To curb this, Chief Katizagombo and fellow traditional leaders have appointed compound supervisors to report cases of abuse as soon as they occur.
Chief Katizagombo also called for a clearer and stricter legal framework to hold offenders accountable for engaging in sexual relations with minors.
“We are facing challenges in handling cases of child marriages and sexual offenses involving girls aged 16 and 17. Our current laws are failing us. We do not want sex offenders to walk free simply because they committed their crimes against older minors. The law should treat anyone who has sex with a 17-year-old as if they raped a five-year-old,” he said.
Zimbabwe recently enacted the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons) Act of 2024, which criminalizes sexual relations with anyone under 18 years. The law also penalizes the deliberate infection of minors with HIV or other sexually transmitted infections.
Chief Katizagombo is among several traditional leaders working with PSH and the Ministry of Women Affairs to combat early child marriages through the Give Me A Chance initiative.
Launched in 2022, Give Me A Chance aims to reduce the growing burden of early child marriages, which have led to school dropouts and widened the opportunity gap between boys and girls. The program is being implemented in three districts: Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP), Zvimba, and Rushinga, in partnership with the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
Varaidzo Mabhunu, Marketing Manager at PSH Zimbabwe, said the initiative focuses on protecting girls from various forms of abuse, including early marriages.
“In this project, we are identifying the challenges that girls face and working with the community to find lasting solutions to ensure their protection. We are committed to ending early child marriages and safeguarding the future of our girls,” said Mabhunu.
Meanwhile, Mashonaland West Province has an estimated population of 1.9 million, with more than 52% being women and girls.
Minister of State for Mashonaland West Province, Honourable Marian Chombo, emphasized the need to improve girls’ access to education and life skills training as a strategy to combat early child marriages and teenage pregnancies.
“There is an urgent need to end the abuse of girls and women while strengthening laws that protect them from domestic violence and gender-based violence. We want our girls to progress to tertiary education. We cannot continue to see girls dropping out at Grade 7. With such a qualification, there are no meaningful employment opportunities. We also need inclusive education that accommodates girls with disabilities,” said Honourable Chombo.
