SOME church leaders, who are among perpetrators of gender-based violence
are finding refuge in the Bile.
Masvingo Province on Tuesday joined the rest of the country in marking the
beginning of commemorations of the 16 Days of Activism against gender based
violence at the Masvingo Civic Centre, where it was revealed that victims of
GBV are suffering in silence as some church leaders are misusing the Bible
texts to abuse congregants.
Speaking during the event, Pastor Ivy Gavumende, of Building Bridges
Zimbabwe Trust (BBZT), said one of the most abused verses in churches is
“Touch not the anointed one” as this had resulted in many unreported cases of
violence.
“Even in the churches, people are being abused because as has been said by
other presenters, you cannot look at a person and easily tell that this one is a
perpetrator of violence. In the churches, some are misusing verses and one of
the verses is ‘Touch not my anointed one’ and so people will start saying don’t
talk much of the pastor because he is the anointed one.
“At times, pastors can be perpetrators of GBV on young girls and boys while
using these verses and the victims cannot report them anywhere because they
will be told not to touch the anointed one lest you be cursed,” she said.
Pastor Gavumende said as representatives of churches they were also calling for
an end to GBV as some of the victims were in the church and it was the duty of
pastors to offer counselling services to the victims.
“Sometimes people don’t report violence, especially when it is by a pastor,
because people don’t usually want to talk about issues that involve pastors and
most of the time these cases are never reported to the police.
“The church should give spiritual, emotional and psychological support because
we have different people that come to the church and some are victims of
violence so when people come to the church, we need to give them counselling,
using the word of God.”
Meanwhile, the Assistant Masvingo District Development Co-ordinator,
Kenneth Madziva, said the end to violence and creation of peaceful
environments was in line with the country’s vision 2030 of an upper middle
income economy.
“As a nation, we are geared towards the achievement of Vision 2030, whereby
we are moving towards an upper middle-income economy, where we anticipate
change for the better in everyone’s life. This is also in line with what we are
gathered here for today, as we also seek to end GBV.
“The importance of ending GBV towards the achievement of a prosperous
Zimbabwe is that we are creating a Zimbabwe, which is peaceful, conducive for
investment, a Zimbabwe which is free from violence.
“Violence against women continues to occur at an alarming scale in every
country in the world. Women and children in the City of Masvingo have not
been spared as the GBV statistics continue to rise yearly. Too often, it is
accepted as normal behaviour and the global culture of discrimination against
women allows violence to occur with impunity,” he said.