Moses Billiat approached Chitungwiza Magistrates’ Courts on Monday, seeking a protection order against his estranged wife whom he says had made his life unbearable after she obtained a protection order against him.
VIMBAI MARUFU
Billiat said that his family fell apart after his wife started setting conditions for him, locking him inside the house, assaulting and barring him from interacting with his colleagues.
Such actions have been received with contempt by men, who said they are subject to abuse by women who now have an upper hand and are “abusing” protection orders.
“After obtaining protection orders, women see this document as a passport to do what they want in marriage without being questioned.
“Surely, marriage can never work under such circumstances. It is doomed to collapse,” Willard Mupimbira from Mayambara, Chitungwiza, says.
Timothy Murape (41) from Glen View, Harare, also echoes similar sentiments, adding that although it was crafted with the intention of protecting women from abuse, the order cannot be used by a married couple without wreaking more havoc.
“Protection orders are the best tools to stop domestic violence or any type of abuse, but they have become dangerous weapons in the hands of vengeful wives.
- 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
“Women have the power to get the abuser arrested as soon as he commits an act of abuse, but instead, they torment him and they drive each other apart until someone moves out of the house for good,” he says.
But are these sentiments blown out of proportion by angry men who do not want their wives to have an upper hand in marriages?
Legal Practitioner Phillip Hamunakwadi of Mugiya and Macharaga Law Chambers says that if there are no allegations from the abuser that he or she is also being abused by the complainant, the court cannot guess or issue a reciprocal order.
“The document can easily be violated or abused and it might seem unfair for one part to be given a protection order, but the court can only give a reciprocal order when the other part also makes some allegations against the complainant,” Hamunakwadi says.
Stella Takawira from Chitungwiza says that a protection order can be obtained not only by married couples, but by anyone and in most cases, men will be on the wrong side of the law.
“Most perpetrators of domestic violence are men, but a protection order can be obtained by anyone. Most men are reluctant to speak out and report that they are also being abused for fear of being ridiculed.
“They [men] must stop blaming the document for breaking their marriages when it’s there to uphold peace and actually save a marriage that was on the verge of collapse because of the abuse,” she said.
Protection orders are typically used in domestic disputes to ban one party from contacting or abusing another party.
It has a lifespan of five years while a peace order lasts for a year and a reciprocal order is where both parties are not to abuse each other.
With the order in effect, if one violates its conditions, the court has discretion to either fine or imprison the violator. Violence against women and girls is a serious global problem. In 2007 the Domestic Violence Act was enacted to advance women’s fight against gender-based violence.
According to Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey, three in every 10 women in Zimbabwe have suffered from some form of physical violence since the age of 15.
Nakai Nengomasha from Padare\Ekhudleni\Men’s Forum said the role of the protection order is to stop abuse.
“The concept of a protection order is not there to break marriages, but to stop violence. But if one is now using the same document to perpetrate abuse, it is wrong,” he said.
Nengomasha, however, adds that the nation is striving hard to contain such issues of domestic violence amid alarming scales of new cases that are being reported every day.
