Gender Based Violence (GBV) has become a major cause for concern at Tiger Reef mine. Recently two women were murdered in cold blood in broad daylight with the community looking on as people were afraid to intervene.
This led to civic organisations in Kwekwe namely Unika, Community Voices Zimbabwe and WILPF to come together and host a GBV awareness campaign at the mining compound.
Gender Based violence (GBV) refers to any act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and is based on gender norms and unequal power relationships. In Zimbabwe the most common act of GBV is that of domestic violence and women are affected more.
Speaking during the meeting, the Village headman Savanhu Lazarus expressed his worry at the brutal murders that have happened in his area. “When the second murder happened and the parents came to me I was very alarmed for no one knew where the guy came from. People who are visiting our community are killing our children and it’s very sad. It’s very important that we work together to eradicate this problem,” he said.
Headman Savanhu further pointed out that it’s important for every person who visits Tiger Reef to first go and register either with the Councilors or with him. This is a practice that most rural areas follow as a way of cross checking that no wanted persons reside within their communities. This suggestion came about because in one of the murder cases, no one knew the name of the accused or where he came from. Mining areas are overwhelmed with large numbers of men in search of the next gold rush. Most of these miners are usually very violent and young girls are gullible to them especially when they come from poor homesteads. “Let’s take up this practice of registering anyone who comes into our community so that even when we face challenges like what happened before, the suspect can be easily brought to book,” he said.
Blessing Muchawa Kwekwe District Officer from the Ministry of Women Affairs, raised concern over the involvement of parents in the raise of GBV. He brought to light that parents are also accepting these illegal gold miners as partners to their daughters due to the fact that they would be offering them financial support. He was fearful of the involvement of parents in marrying off their underage daughters. He said that in most cases parents were the ones who encouraged their daughters to be in love relationships with gold panners. “I blame some mothers who encourage their daughters and marry them off to gold panners so that they get groceries. Your daughters are worth so much more than that, they deserve a chance to go to school and make a living for themselves. Please give them a chance to grow,” he said.
He urged parents not to easily accept this and also to protect their children since these gold panners are becoming a risk factor in different communities.
Tiger Reef`s Victim Friendly Officer Spencer Gowere highlighted reiterated that parents should stop marring off children who are under age. He explained that they would not be old or mature enough to handle the pressures of marriage. “It’s the right of every child to get an education. Parents, ensure that your child goes to school, they need that education.
Officer Gowere also encouraged the women in Tiger Reef to speak out when they become victims of GBV. “Communication is very important, let the people close to you know or come to the police station we have Community Relations Liaison Officers. They will help solve any dispute if there is a misunderstanding between two parties,” he said.
Zimbabwe law clearly states that every child has a right to an education and a right to shelter. Also the age of consent for one to get married is 18. Any marriage that is to a child below that age is illegal. Members of the public are encouraged to report if someone goes against this law. Every police station has suggestion boxes where they can make anonymous tip offs about such illegalities.
Women in Tiger Reef agreed that their lives were at risk and expressed fear in helping out other victims as they were failing to protect themselves. “The desire to help other women is there but how to we help them? These men are violent and they use machetes, how do we even defend ourselves?” Tendai Zimbume said.
Another participant urged women not to hide their abusers or enable them. She explained that women knew about the weapons that their men kept in their homes, things like machetes which have become common weapons in GBV cases. “That same machete he tells you it’s for work can easily became a murder weapon when you have a disagreement “
During the meeting it became apparent that women in Tiger Reef mine were now afraid to report men who abused them. However, there are organisations like Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association and Legal Resources, who help with the laws governing GBV and offer free serves to women who need legal help.