Whinsley Masara Chronicle Reporter
THIRTY seven chiefs met in Bulawayo on Thursday to deliberate on ways of ending child marriages within their communities. The chiefs as well as six District Administrators, all from Matabeleland North, have been engaged by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development and Plan International to share ideas on challenges associated with child marriages and how to manage them.
Matabeleland North Provincial Administrator Latiso Dlamini said unless the government finds strategies to ensure that girls and women have a chance to reach their full potential, the country’s development would remain elusive.
“Zimbabwe will not truly attain optimum development as long as more than half its population is locked out of developmental opportunities. I’m pleased by the engagement of all stakeholders, and chiefs in particular so that together we can find ways of promoting full integration of women in all spheres of community development,” she said.
“Child marriages represents a gross violation of women’s rights, and as government we hope that by joining hands with chiefs we will send a bold statement that early, forced and child marriages are not tolerated in Matabeleland North.”
Dlamini said the conference on finding ways to end child marriages was the first of its own kind in Matabeleland North. She said circumstances surrounding child marriages are often not interrogated and receive little coverage in the media. Dlamini said the reason was that either society was in denial of the magnitude of the problem or at times the problem was regarded as deep-rooted, too sensitive and way too challenging to tackle.
“Not only is ending child marriage the correct thing to do, it is good for us all, and more importantly good for all girls. We need to transform our ways of doing things, we must galvanise our efforts to create an overpowering impetus for change,” she added.
“Individually, and collectively we can work together to end child marriages. Let us put our hands together to get all girls in school and keep them there. It’s within our capacity as leaders to plant seeds for the future of our girls. We can prepare a better future for our girls and we must start now.”
The Woman’s Affairs Ministry and Plan International called upon chiefs to come up with measures to end child marriages.
Plan International National Gender Coordinator Buhe Ndebele said: “Working with chiefs and other traditional leaders is one of the many ways that can effectively curtail child marriages because child marriages are one of the worst forms of child abuse. Child marriages affect children in many ways. They have health, social and psychological effects on children. It also affects children in their development as individuals and affects the development of the nation as well. It prohibits children from realising their full potential and the enjoyment of their rights.”