Feature -Zim witnessing surge in femicide cases

By Eugenie Muchetu

Harare (New Ziana)- In May this year, 42-year-old Rita Rore from Mt Hampden, about 20 kilometers northwest of the capital, was repeatedly struck with a hoe several times on the head and succumbed to the injuries sustained in the savage attack.

The person who should have been her protector, her own husband, who then fled after the dastardly deed, and left the difficult task of informing relatives and the community of the gruesome murder to their traumatised young daughter, was the one who took her life.

Zimbabwe, and indeed the rest of the world, is facing an upsurge in cases where women are killed by their partners/spouses or close family members.

Over 31 women have lost their lives in Zimbabwe so far this year from January to October 2023 at the hands of their partners or spouses, a marked increase from the 26 who were killed last year during the comparable period.

The figure translates to 13 percent of the total 200 women killed last year, while in 2021, a total of 158 were killed by various perpetrators including strangers, close family members and partners.

In 2019, while women accounted for only 19 percent of total homicide victims, they comprised 82 percent of intimate partner homicide victims and 64 percent of all intimate partner/family-related homicide victims (UNODC, 2019).

Globally in 2020 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2021) noted that 47 000 women and girls were killed by their intimate partners or other family members (fathers, uncles, brothers or sons), meaning more than five women or girls are killed every hour by their partner/ former partner or family member.

Femicide, that is the intentional killing of women or girls because of their gender by an intimate partner or close family relative, is not peculiar to Zimbabwe but the world over.

There is therefore need to interrogate the problem in efforts to understand its drivers and to find lasting solutions.

Femicide is an extreme form of gender based violence against women and girls and is often driven by stereotyped gender roles, discrimination towards women and girls, unequal power relations between women and men and harmful social norms like honour killing, mostly in Asia, perpetrated by family members.

According to a UN report, in 2021, Asia recorded the largest number of female intimate partner and family related killings with an estimated 17,800 victims, followed by 17,200 in Africa; 7,500 in the Americas; 2,500 in Europe; and 300 in Oceania.

These findings make it imperative for a gendered analysis of femicide to ensure that gender-based killings are not lumped together with general homicide data.

Unfortunately most countries do not have structured collation of data on the issue and many cases go unreported.

Though in Zimbabwe there is femicide is not recognised as a crime, the fact remains that women or girls are being murdered by their partners or family members even though the cases are tabulated under general homicide.

Without looking at this growing phenomenon separately and finding out the reasons why it is rising and what its causes are, it will be difficult to come up with long lasting solutions to the problem, for hardly a week goes by without a woman being killed by an intimate partner.

National Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said issues that have led to the women being killed in the country include allegations of infidelity and petty domestic disputes.

He said the majority of those murdered by their partners or spouses are women, although men are also victims.

Only recently a forty-one year old woman from Gadzema township, Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West province, Chioneso Ephraim, was stabbed to death with an okapi knife by her husband, Bwanali Bwando (50), after he caught her red-handed with a suspected lover sitting on their matrimonial bed.

“It is difficult for the police to trace the history of suspects or victims, in terms of behaviour before a crime of murder is committed,” said Ass Comm Nyathi, adding that no one has the right to take away someone’s life no matter the circumstances.

“Every person’s life is sacrosanct and should be respected. The public is urged to shun violence and resolve differences amicably.”

While most of the the intimate partner violence victims face gender-based violence (GBV) for years and even though the Domestic Violence Act is there, most cases are not reported and those that are, the majority do not end up in the courts as victims withdraw before trial, often being forced to do so by relatives.

On April 24 this year, 41-year-old Emilia Chatiza was savagely beaten with a chair and killed by her husband Sunday Marimo (44) at Dzvene Village, Kutama in Zvimba over infidelity allegations.

Marimo, a teacher in Raffingora, had a history of frequently beating his wife who had at one time left the marriage but later came back, ultimately dying at his hands.

In an interview Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises, Jeniffer Mhlanga said they are equally concerned about the upsurge in the killing of women by their partners.

She said there is need to rope in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, the traditional leadership, academia and the media to interrogate the issue and come up with solutions to the problem.

“I think because of the prevalence, we need to intensify the advocacy and training aspect and also going out to stakeholders. I think its scaling up, doing much more than we have been doing.”

As the cases have been rising, sections of society have singled out lobola as one of the contributing factors to the scourge, with some calling for its total scrapping.

They cite the commercialisation of the once revered tradition as the root cause of much of the violence in the home as some men have also weaponised it.

Under the new marriage laws, couples can marry without paying lobola, though many still pay, while a customary marriage still requires the payment of lobola.

Although Zimbabwe has many legislative provisions that include the Domestic Violence Act, constitutional provisions that guarantee the rights of women as well as being signatory to many regional and international conventions against the discrimination of women, the problem persists.

Director of the School of Social Work at the Midlands State University, Dr Noel Muridzo, attributed the decimation of the extended family, the removal of the family in the payment of lobola, the introduction of new marriage laws by the colonialists, life’s pressures as well as traditional explanations like evil spirits as some of the reasons that have seen femicide increasing in the country.

“If you look at the institution of marriage itself and what it means now, it has been upset. Whatever problems we face in our marriage we face it as the two of us. Long ago a wife was for the family.

“Lobola was not about money but it was honouring each other. One could even marry with mice, or a hoe, but now it has been monetised and some men seem to see it as having bought an object instead of creating relations.

“So if challenges come they have no compuction in killing and getting rid of something they bought. They have modified the tradition, so if the wife cheats they can easily get rid of her without looking for someone to mediate in the issue,” said Dr Muridzo.

He asserted that people no longer have somewhere to go when they face challenges because of the destruction of the extended family and its pillars that helped people in relationships.

When married whites have problems they seek professional counsellors, or go to their pastors or to court and get divorced, but for black people it is not easy to get divorced as someone would have paid lobola, he said.

“It is not in our culture as black people to go and see a social worker, a psychologist or a therapist when we face challenges, though some are now doing so now. We keep things bottled up inside, while hurting,” said Dr Muridzo.

Abuse of drugs and alcohol have also been singled out as some of the reasons that have led to partners killing their spouses as some would not be in their right senses and intoxicated when they commit the crime.

Children are the unforeseen victims as they are left without parents, after one is murdered and the one goes to jail.
Some commit suicide after killing their spouses again leaving the vulnerable children alone, traumatized and scarred for life.

Many reasons have been proffered as causes of intimate partner violence and many of them are within the power of society to deal with them, and acknowledging that the country has a problem is the first step towards solving it.

There is also need to acknowledge that femicide as a crime exists and is happening in Zimbabwe as the country cannot continue to lose women who have the potential to contribute to its development.

New Ziana