THE country’s legal system has virtually taken over the traditional family dispute resolution mechanism in domestic matters as more and more people approach the courts seeking peace orders.
REPORT BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI
In recent months, the civil courts have been saddled with matters where people from different walks of life have been seeking the intervention of the courts after failing to amicably resolve domestic disputes.
The domestic dispute cases in which people end up seeking peace orders are as diverse as the backgrounds from which the belligerent parties are drawn and these include disputes over conjugal rights, extra-marital affairs, child maintenance and misunderstandings in polygamous marriages.
Statistics show that the civil courts are on a daily basis dealing with over 10 cases where people seek peace orders.
Life coach Arthur Marara, who is also a practising lawyer and counsellor, believes that seeking a peace order only addresses the symptoms, but does not resolve the problem.
“People should start by asking themselves why they are having those problems in their marriage,” said Marara. “Why are they even fighting? What is the cause of the fights and why is there no stability in the marriage?”
He added: “A peace order will not restore happiness in the marriage; neither is it going to restore lost love in the marriage.” Marara said it was important for partners in a relationship to avoid resorting to violence and learn anger management.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
He said solutions to such problems in relationships should be viewed from a socio-legal perspective and partners ought to “explore the possibility for counselling with a view to settlement, and approach the court as a last resort” as peace orders had far-reaching implications especially on the children if the disputes were reported in the media.
Marara urged people to make serious considerations before plunging headlong into relationships, especially marriages, which would end up mired in serious problems.
“You can’t marry a wrong person and expect that you can change them,” he said. “Watch out for trends during dating or courtship. If he or she is violent now, he/she will be more violent later. If he is unfaithful now why do you think he will change when you marry him? You can never change a person, you can only change yourself.”
He advised prospective marriage partners to part ways before tying the note if there are problems during courtship. He however said there were also people who “hid their violent traits before marriage, and manifest them after marriage”.
In addition to granting peace orders, magistrate were in October last year given the discretion to direct peace order parties to deposit a recognisance fee which a form of bail to force compliance with the peace order or where one may have violated a previous order.
The amount could be as high as $400 depending on the nature of the case.
The civil courts have also abolished reciprocal peace orders while the deposited recognisance cash would be held by the courts for a 12-month period and refundable only when the offender is found to have complied.
“Where a complaint on oath is made to a magistrate that any person is conducting himself violently towards, or is threatening injury to the person or property of another; or has used language or behaved in a manner likely to provoke a breach of the peace or assault, the magistrate may order the person against whom the complaint is made to enter into recognisance, with or without sureties, in an amount not exceeding level seven for a period not exceeding one year to keep the peace towards the complainant and refrain from doing or threatening injury to his person or property,” reads part of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
The Act further empowers the magistrate to even incarcerate violent individuals who would have deliberately violated peace against applicants.
Senior pastor with Impact Christian Centre Davison Kanokanga – who is also a lawyer and marriage counsellor – said the increase in the number of people seeking peace orders was indicative of a rise in domestic violence cases.
He said turning to the courts for recourse was evidence that the parties would not have found any other solution.
“The trend implies that there is an increase in domestic abuse and that there are many people who are taking the law into their own hands and the victims are being forced to seek legal protection because from their point of view there is no other alternative remedy,” Said Sanokanga.
He said the pursuit of peace orders was a last resort and stressed the need for people to be taught alternative conflict resolution mechanisms. Love, he says, is the solution.
“People end up seeking peace orders because they will be in relationships where they will not be observing the Biblical commands to love your neighbour as yourself, to love one another as Jesus loved us,” he says.
He bemoaned the church’s silence on domestic violence and said teachings on the family, which he is currently doing at his church, were very few and far in-between as the church as tended to focus on financial prosperity at the expense of “relational prosperity”.
