Traditional Leaders Perpetuating Domestic Violence In Zimbabwe

On Friday at the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) conference, Sithokozile Thabethe from the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZALWA) spoke about the role of traditional leaders in domestic violence cases in Zimbabwe.  The act permits the chiefs to adjudicate psychological and economic domestic violence cases.

There are a lot of problems and contradictions that come with the chiefs handling these abuse cases. The structure of the court itself made up of patriarchs. The chiefs themselves promote child marriages and are polygamists. Also, the chiefs play conflicting roles; they act both as counselors and adjudicators of the cases.  In one case, Thabethe said that one of the chiefs interrogated the litigant before she even stated her cases.  However, Thabethe says that the villagers go the chiefs' courts because they are less complicated and less costly.

South Africa is probably has the same situation because chieftaincy prevails in villages in almost all provinces.  And like in Zimbabwe, the chiefs are highly patriarchal and practice and promote polygamy.  For example, King Zwelithini of the Zulu tribe in Kwa-Zulu Natal is a polygamist and even has a younger wife. 

Disappointing is that the women (even the younger generation) in the villages seem to believe in the perpetuation of this patriarchy. However, with more education and awareness they will see that most of the acts conducted against them are actually domestic violence.  They believe that the chiefs have to maintain the status quo and this status quo includes the perpetuation of patriarchy. 

In her presentation Thabethe also said that one of the chief's wives had told her that she was experiencing domestic violence from her husband, the chief.   Although the chief's wife told her this, her intention was not to expose the husband but was just confiding in Sithokozile.  It is always hard to expose these men because these women (like the chiefs wife) ‘depend' on them for survival.

There is still a long to go for creating gender equality awareness and education among the so called traditional men.  On the first day of the conference, Bafana Khumalo said talking about gender equality to these traditional men is a mission because they say it is western thinking. 

More work still has to be done to stop this thinking of "culture" permitting gender inequality.