Zimbabwe Women’s Coalition Pushes New Law to Protect Women
21 January 2005
Oxfam-supported coalition is promoting a new Domestic Violence Bill.
A coalition of human rights organizations supported by Oxfam America is pushing violence against women into the spotlight on the national stage in Zimbabwe. Oxfam America’s partners provide legal services, counseling, and shelter for domestic violence victims, but they are also seeking long-term preventive measures in a new Domestic Violence Bill submitted to the legislature in 2004.
In December 2004, the coalition staged a special “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence” event. On Day 1 Zimbabwe’s Youth, Gender and Employment Creation Minister Ambrose Mutinhiri signed a petition urging the government to enact the Domestic Violence Bill. By Day 16 the petition had attracted one million signatures, including some members of Parliament.
The petition calls on the Parliament to provide stiffer penalties for violations against women, and for a commission to oversee public officials such as the police, health care professionals, the judiciary, and the ministries responsible for upholding the new law, when it is passed.
Zimbabwe’s Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the proposed bill was “a crucial and positive step towards the eradication of domestic violence.” Chinamasa said that the Bill would be presented to the new parliament in March 2005. “In recognition of the petition you handed over to me, let me take it upon myself to present this appeal to the Members of Parliament,” he told women backing the legislation.
At least one in four women in Zimbabwe have been beaten up by their partners, while one in five have been threatened with physical violence, according to studies by the Musasa Project, one of Oxfam America’s partners in the Zimbabwe Women’s Coalition. Musasa Project is a leading organization in the protection of women at risk.
One Musasa Project study noted that “domestic violence results from the failure of the legal system to treat battery, murder and rape of women by husbands or lovers as crimes in the same manner...as if they had occurred between strangers”. The study cites several cases where husbands who murdered their wives got away with only light sentences.
The Musasa Project, a leading organization in the protection of women, has been at the forefront of the campaign to end violence against women. In 1999 the organization received a grant from Oxfam America to lobby for the enactment of a domestic violence law. Over the years, Musasa Project has brought in other women’s organizations, notably the Women’s Coalition, which brings together women’s organizations fighting for gender equality in Zimbabwe.
Musasa Project carried out wide consultations with women on the Domestic Violence Bill, and comments from the consultations have been incorporated into the draft bill. The bill seeks to criminalize domestic violence and increases legal assistance for victims. Under the initiative, Musasa Project has also carried out extensive training for police officers to make them more sensitive in dealing with cases of domestic violence.
Sheila Mahere, who heads Musasa Project and also chairs the Women’s Coalition, says the bill answers to the real needs of women across the social divide, making it possible to mobilize support from women’s groups across the country. “In the coming months we will continue to target policy makers, particularly parliamentarians to ensure that the bill is kept on the agenda”. The Women’s Coalition has also embarked on a media blitz to publicize the bill, appearing on television news and popular talk shows.
Musasa Project’s work against domestic violence has attracted the attention of the Provincial Governor for Matebeleland South, who invited the organization to move into the province to start its activities. The invitation is an endorsement of its program by the government at a time when other non-governmental organizations are being barred under new laws.
The enactment of the bill is likely to get an added impetus following the recent appointment of Zimbabwe’s first female vice President, Joyce Mujuru. Speaking soon after being sworn in, on December 6th, 2004, Mujuru said she would have a bias towards women’s issues and would work on matters important to women. The Women’s Coalition is trying to get the new vice president to sign the petition on the Domestic Violence Bill.
