…only seven ‘One Stop Centres’ for victims of GBV in whole country
Emmanuel Chitsika
Despite concerted efforts by partners in the Civic Society to bring to an end Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the country, a closer look at government efforts to tackle the ‘elephant in the room’ leaves much to be desired due to the evident lack of facilities to support victims.
The role to fight GBV seems to have been relegated to the Civic Society Organizations (CSOs) while government departments and line ministries mandated with such a task have not put in place mechanisms to curb the ill.
GBV cases have been reported with most notable cases being abuse of minors either in religious sects and other sections of society but sincerity on part of government is questionable due to lack of preparedness.
This year alone two unprecedented cases of impregnating of nine year olds hogged the limelight and the general citizenry wonders where the moral fibre of this society has gone while at the same time the duties and roles of policy makers are also placed under heavy scrutiny.
As if that is not enough, the preparedness of government to fight in the corner of the victims of GBV is questionable judging by the little number of help centres set for the rehabilitation of victims.
During Masvingo provincial GBV annual commemorations for this year held on December 6, 2022 at Masvingo Civic Centre Masvingo Assistant District Development Coordinator (DDC) Kenneth Madziva read a speech revealing that the country only has seven One Stop Centres to cater for GBV victims.
“Esteemed guests, to deal with the rising cases of GBV which has retarted the empowerment drive, the government of Zimbabwe is establishing One Stop Centres to offer counselling, police and health services to survivors of gender based violence.
“To date a total of seven One Stop Centres are operating and we are privileged to have one such in the province. In order to decentralize GBV services especially during the Covid-19 period, the government of Zimbabwe carried out Mobile One Stop Centres to hard-to-reach areas and this has helped in increasing access to GBV services by survivors,” said Madziva.
Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) Masvingo chapter chairperson Moreblessing Manenji said as an organization they are saddened by the current happenings which have seen young children taken as ‘child bearing machines’ a situation that does not settle well with mothers.
“This year we are here commemorating the annual 16 Days against GBV but on a sad note where we have witnessed children as young as nine being taken as mothers and it does not go well with us as mothers. What has really gone wrong for us as a nation?
“As WCoZ, we appeal to all stakeholders to come together and play respective roles towards eradication of GBV as a united front. Also exposure of women to violence during elections is another cause for concern that needs attention. The cases of GBV are a clear testimony of a society that has lost its Ubuntu and empathy, morals and values. Economic hardships, gender inequality, unbalanced power dynamics, limited resources to adequately respond to GBV cases and limited implementation of the law has been the driving forces behind this state of affairs. WCoZ commends work done by government of Zimbabwe through Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises and other partners.
“We thus call for unity and solidarity towards ending violence against women and girls. We urge in particular the Zimbabwe Republic Policy (ZRP) to decentralize Victim Friendly Unit (VFU) to remote and hard to reach areas and ensuring victims access services continuously. We also call upon Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to ensure a portion of the national budget is directed towards fighting GBV as a way of mitigating violence against women and girls. Ministries of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Women Affairs to recapacitate and adequately finance the Anti-Domestic Violence Council that sized to be operational long back,” said Manenji.
ZRP Masvingo Central District VFU coordinator Assistant Inspector Tongofa dispelled the notion that some areas lack specialized personnel from the force and urged stakeholders to play their roles.
“I heard some of our presenters calling upon ZRP to ensure VFU personnel are available in hard-to-reach areas, let me tell you that as a force we have already deployed specialists in the GBV area in all such areas.
“What I would like is to challenge everyone present here to be an ambassador of peace and that is by desisting from GBV other than being a perpetrator or fuelling the problem through the word of mouth or any other related action. Everyone should preach peace for the good of our society. Young children have suffered a lot and thus as parents play your part in effectively dealing with the problem,” said Tongofa.
Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) also took the opportunity to launch their organizational gender policy which the presenter said was presented by a male since gender issues are not female issues alone.
