Chimanimani—The old age practice of marriage by abduction (musengabere) is still a reality
for young girls in Chimanimani – albeit practiced by Mozambicans and is causing sleepless
nights for local parents whose children have fallen victim.
Some locals have also joined the practice and drag the girls to Mozambique where they live
as husband and wife to escape legal censure as marriage to a person under 18 years here is a
crime.
Locals who follow to protest this practice of bride kidnapping are often assaulted in the
neighbouring country which they border with.
Chisiri B village head Langton Ndima, under Chief Ndima in Rusitu is at a loss as to how the
community can fight this scourge.
“We have had several cases across villages of children being lured into marriages by young
boys and men from across the border. Most of them are Mozambican although we have locals
who decide to take their brides across the borderline where they know we have no
jurisdiction,” he said.
Bride kidnapping is common in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
The ancient cultural practice saw men, young or old checking out the ladies and identifying
the ones they admired and wanted as wives. The man would carefully study the woman’s
daily routines, including when she would go to the river to fetch water or to the forest to
collect firewood.
It is on such occasions the man would execute his plans knowing that the girl will be alone.
The men are now scouting for brides targeting those going to school.
Headman Ndima and his people are now afraid for the future of their young girls who can be
targeted by these men from across the border as they are said to be physically intimidating.
“Musengabere has become a menace especially during public holidays when some of our
locals return from neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Mozambique. They take
advantage of their financial freedoms to lure the young girls to their foreign bases with
parental consent. What is even worse is that these girls are smuggled out of the country
through illegal crossing points in the porous Zimbabwe-Mozambique border,” said Ndima.
He said the perpetrators popularly known as ‘Majoni-joni lure the girls with their vehicles as
they pick them up from school and promise them a better life beyond the borders.
Another village head Enoch Chaboma concurred with Ndima and said the child rights
violation practice was becoming a growing concern in their villages.
“Young girls are nowadays easily lured by money and cars all in the name of love. They
slowly fall prey to such predators and are usually caught unaware of the circumstances. This
is more or less a modern way of bride kidnapping thorough the use of vehicles and money
and they are taken across the border on the pretext they are being set up for financial
freedom,” said Chaboma.
Chaboma said the country’s laws prohibited such and the traditional courts, likewise, frowned
upon such.
According to Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Nobert Muzondo, the police have
not yet received any official reports of such incidents and urged the public to report such
cases of child abuse and possibly human trafficking.
According to the ancient traditional practice a girl’s family would obviously notice her
disappearance and wait for news of her whereabouts. The man would appear, usually the next
day, and notify her family of her new residence.
Under such circumstances the family would be in doubt of the girl’s purity and assumption
would be the man did something to compromise her virginity during her disappearance.
As a social construct, having been kidnapped is so shameful that the victim or her family
agrees to marriage rather than risk the stigma of being a “used” woman. Sometimes, grooms
use rape or other physical violence to coerce women to consent to marriage though that is not
the norm.
So, the man would be obliged to marry the woman, but for her this is where the nightmare
begins. For some the kidnapping would have been their first encounter with the man who will
now be her husband for life.
Apparently in such scenarios she is voiceless and has to contend with learning to love the
man.
In Zimbabwe bride kidnapping is known as “musengabere,” which translates as “'the one
who carries a hyena.” The practice has over the years become illegal though in some pockets
of the country, it continues today, especially in rural areas.
Bride kidnapping is a gross violation of the basic right to choose what one wants in particular
Article 16 (1) (a) and (b) of Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW): States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in
particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women: (a) The same right to enter
into marriage; and (b) The same right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage
only with their free and full consent
The convention is the only human rights treaty which affirms the reproductive rights of
women and targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family
relations.
It affirms women’s rights to acquire, change or retain their nationality and the nationality of
their children. States parties also agree to take appropriate measures against all forms of
traffic in women and exploitation of women.
However, some parts of Chimanimani in Manicaland province have of late had reported cases
of this harmful cultural practice taking place, though practiced with a new twist.
