Chiefs want the return of corporal punishment

MATABELELAND North traditional chiefs have said returning corporal punishment in the country's constitution will be a big step towards ending child marriages.

A national debate about girls as young as 12-year-olds getting married to older men, mainly due to economic hardships, has been raging in the country.

Last week the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development and a non-governmental organisation Plan International engaged 37 chiefs from Matabeleland North and six district administrators in Bulawayo to deliberate on ways of ending child marriages within their communities.

The traditional leaders committed themselves to taking the lead in ending marriages to girls below 16 years, the age of consent according to the constitution, in their communities.

They pledged to mete out harsh sentences to villagers who have sex with young girls at their traditional courts. Chief Mtshane Khumalo of Bubi, the Deputy President of the Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs, said child marriage is a harmful practice that is significantly prevalent in Matabeleland North.

"We want corporal punishment to be put back in the constitution because we believe that lack of such discipline is a contributing factor to child marriages," he said.

The chief said child marriages "remarkably undermine the best interests of the girl child and have adverse effects for her and society as a whole." "We've committed ourselves to take the lead in interventions that are aimed at ending child marriages and teenage pregnancies through reviving cultural education by cascading the information on ending child marriages to all the villages.

"We'll also collaborate with the government and development partners in alleviating poverty. In cognizance of Chapter 15 of the new Constitution, we're therefore committed to apprehending and charging anyone who is found to be promoting or engaged in child marriages in the province."

The chief said traditional leaders were aware that some cultural norms among other social, economic and religious practices contribute to prevalence of child marriage.

Traditional leaders, he said, in addition to being in charge of social and economic matters, are also the custodians of cultural heritage, norms, values and key agents of change.

He said: "We therefore stand in solidarity with Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development and Plan International." He said chiefs were prepared to conduct awareness campaigns in schools as well as engaging at-risk children and women to help spread the word. Chief Zondani Shana of Hwange district said there is no culture that promotes child marriages. He said traditional leaders are committed to playing their role in protecting children from child or forced marriages and all forms of abuse or discrimination.

"I'm very impressed by the turn out by our provincial chiefs, especially for this topic. This shows that we're all sailing in the same boat, and are all considering a girl child to be equally important to a boy child and want the best for them too," said Chief Shana. "We're pleading with the government to review the constitutional provisions that concern children. Traditional leaders are urged to spear-head outreach programs on children's rights throughout the country."

Chief Shana said many chiefs attested that early child marriages were not a myth in their districts but a living practice. "We agreed that as chiefs in Mat North we would now go to the grassroots and fully intervene towards ending child marriages," he said. In June, Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana sparked national fury when he appeared to suggest children as young as nine could get married if they are not going to school.