By Tendai Makaripe
When she was a mere ten year old, RudoTembo (not her real name), from the Shangani tribe of Chipinge in Eastern Zimbabwe was considered of no use by her father.
After all, nine of his goats had been devoured by ruthless hyenas under her watch.
However, she had a chance to redeem lost pride by being a second, third or fourth wife to a haplessly old man and earn her father more goats than the ones the hyenas had devoured.
This unpleasant scenario of forced early marriages on African children is not only common in Chipinge but it is replayed across Zimbabwe and most parts of Africa.
According to an article by Lorraine Lazondov titled Namibia: Many Cultural Practices Are Harmful,Namibian Unicef Country Representative, Micaela Marques de Sousa was quoted as saying that a 2006 study conducted in three regions in Namibia found that 35 percent of children aged between 10 and 14 years had their first sexual encounter with someone older or much older.
Twenty-three percent had their first sexual encounter with someone 10 years older or more.
The girl child is forced into relationships with elder men for the family’s financial gain especially in rural Africa.
This abuse has to be stopped hence forth. Our young girls deserve better than being used as a source of income by their families.
At the elections of junior parliamentarians held in Zimbabwe, emphasis was put on the eradication of harmful cultural practices against children.
Justice for Children Trust represented by a series of adjudicators facilitated the event in a bid to make sure that harmful cultural practices are condoned with a sound voice.
While officially opening the 23rd Day of the African Child (DAC) celebrations at the African Union’s New Conference Centre Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia recently, H.E. Mustapha SidikiKaloko, AUC Commissioner of Social Affairs, said the continent’s children continue to endure violence, humiliation and other ills perpetrated by and in the interest of the few in the name of cruel age-old traditions that have lost meaning and relevance.
“We need to wake up and ensure that necessary and urgent steps are taken to eradicate injurious, violence oriented and harmful socio-cultural practices against the continent’s children,” he said.
Early marriage is an increasing focus of reform for governments throughout the developing world. While laws outlining minimum ages for marriage have been enacted in some countries, the laws often fail to prevent forced marriages of the very young.
This practice coupled with the payment of lobola works against the girl child’s favor as she is left vulnerable and powerless in the home.
“Girls are vulnerable and are discriminated against as they may not have power to negotiate safe sex due to traditional practices such as lobola,” said Kelvin Hazangwi, National Director of Padare, a Men’s Forum on Gender.
When the husband of the girl passes away, tradition expects her to be inherited, popularly known as kugaranhaka.
Kugaranhaka is the practice of wife inheritance which takes two principal forms: a womanwhose husband has died may be given to a surviving brother-in-law to marry, or a man whose wife has died is given a young girl from his wife’s family to marry.
According to Kanchense (2005), “The practice of kugaranhaka purports to be a way of “protecting” the widow, yet it violates her fundamental rights to self-determination, and can pose major physical and mental health threats.”
These young women are still not empowered to decline being inherited for fear of losing their children and properties, “and given the subordinate and dependent position of women in society, it is a challenge for them to deny the practice of inheritance; more so ask for HIV testing before marriage,” says NaomeChimbetete, Executive Director of Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre & Network.
Reports from South Africa state that more than 20 South African boys have recently died during coming of age rituals. Police blamed botched circumcisions as the likely cause of death.
Every year in South Africa, boys aged 10 to 15 years from several of the country’s tribal groups are circumcised in traditional “initiation rituals”. The ceremonies usually take place over a number of weeks in remote rural areas.
Deaths are often caused by blood loss or infection when circumcisions are poorly performed by traditional practitioners.
Minister Collins Chabanerecently called the deaths “regrettable”.
“This has happened to young people who were still at their prime, looking forward to a brighter future where they could still reach their potential,” he said in a statement.
A lasting solution should be found to these unfortunate incidences. Laws should be enacted which prohibit harmful traditional practices. However, According to author Omeje in 2001, some authors have questioned the effectiveness of legalistic, human rights approaches, which do not always lead to a good understanding of the practices, including why they take place in the first.
In its General Comment number 4 on Adolescent Health, the Committee on the Rights of the Child states that:
“States Parties should take all effective measures to eliminate all acts and activities which threaten the right to life of adolescents, including honor killings. The Committee strongly urges States Parties to develop and implement awareness-raising campaigns, education programmes and legislation aimed at changing prevailing attitudes, and address gender roles and stereotypes that contribute to harmful traditional practices.
In addition,Africa should facilitate the establishment of multidisciplinary information and advice centres regarding the harmful aspects of some traditional practices, including early marriages and unhealthy circumcision practices.
These practices should stop for a better future for Africa’s children.
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