×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Child marriages documentary launched

News
A DOCUMENTARY detailing the lives of child brides has been launched, with activists calling for stiffer penalties against people involved in the outlawed practice.

A DOCUMENTARY detailing the lives of child brides has been launched, with activists calling for stiffer penalties against people involved in the outlawed practice.

BY CLIFF CHIDUKU

The documentary — A Little Later – was produced and written by Farai Gwenhure and takes an intimate look into the lives of two former child brides.

The 37-minute documentary tells Loveness Mudzuru and Ruvimbo Tsopodzi’s stories.

The two, represented by human rights lawyer, Tendai Biti, in January this year won a landmark ruling, which outlawed child marriages.

Renowned women rights activist and parliamentarian, Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga blasted Zimbabwe’s legal framework for fuelling child marriages and not doing enough to stop the practice.

“It seems we clearly value animals more than our children, because, if you steal a beast, the minimum mandatory jail sentence is 10 years,” she lamented.

“What is more important, an animal or a human being? Perpetrators of child marriages should be arrested and rot in jail because they have no place in this modern world. We need a minimum sentence as well for those who force young girls into marriage.”

Biti concurred with Misihairambwi-Mushonga, saying it is the duty of everyone to fight the scourge.

“This documentary is a small but important way of sensitising our people on the cobwebs of patriarchy, poverty and the exploitation of women, in particular the girl child. It is now everyone’s duty to make sure that our girls are safe in society,” he said.

“There is urgent need for Parliament to amend the Marriages Act and the African Marriages Act to provide criminal sanctions to those who marry young children.”

Katswe Sisterhood director, Talent Jumo could not hide her anger, saying it seems virginity has been commodified.

“We enslave our young girls in marriage just for losing their virginity, as if we could have taken their virginity to a commodities market for selling,” she said.

Founder and Word of Life International Ministries leader, Goodwill Shana said the problem lay with political socialisation.

“We do our politics badly, the politics of domination is so rampant in Zimbabwe and the trend finds itself in families, where some members of the family dominate others, who then give others up for marriage,” he said.

The issue of pledging young girls as a way of avenging spirits is also captured by the documentary.

A wide range of challenges faced by victims of child marriages that include domestic violence, diseases and maternal complications are also captured in the documentary.