Police taking bribes to protect violent spouses

This, she says pointing out the mark on her thigh, was made by a knife. He stuck it so deep that I could not walk for days. I could only hobble. Samantha said after a particularly harsh beating one morning, she went back to her mothers home in the rural areas to show her the wounds. The old woman, who would usually encourage her daughter to endure the hardships of marriage like a real woman, did not even think a moment before telling Samantha what to do.

My mother told me to come back home, said Samantha. When my mother saw the fresh wounds on my back and the black eye Kenneth had given me she was totally shocked. She could not believe that the man who had paid lobola (bride price) for me and promised to love me forever had turned into such a monster.

Mobile phone

But Samantha did not heed her mothers call back home. Instead, she packed he bags and went back to Kenneth hoping that with time he would see the error of his ways and change. It never happened!

In fact, things just got worse as in addition to the regular beatings Kenneth started sharing his money with girlfriends, leaving nothing for Samantha and the child. Realising this, Samanthas brother bought her a mobile phone so that she could contact him if she needed help. Then all hell broke loose. Kenneth was furious. He accused her falsely of infidelity as he often did, and said she had obtained the phone from a boyfriend. He smashed the gadget into the wall and beat her again.

But this time Samantha decided to break free and fled the Avondale home she had shared with Kenneth. I decided that I had had enough, she said in an interview last week. I decided to run away from him last week after I realised he might end up killing me.

Bribes

While Samantha is angry with her husband for his abusive behaviour, she says her greatest disappointment was the way police let her down by simply doing nothing to protect her when she reported the beatings to Avondale police station.

She accused the officers at Avondale police station of taking bribes from Kenneth. Samantha said: When he stabbed me I reported the matter at Avondale police station. Later, I got a call from the policeman handling the case saying that they had dropped the charges against my husband, without my knowledge or consent. My husband even bragged that the police would not do anything to help me because he paid them bribes.

Comment could not be obtained from Avondale police station. However, the police are notorious for corruption, a fact that has been admitted by senior officials, who have said they are taking measures to root out corrupt officers a tall order given that bribe taking and corruption have become endemic in the police force and much of the under-paid civil service.

According to Netty Musanhu, the director of Musasa Project womens group, corruption in the police force had in many cases virtually rendered the Domestic Violence Act ineffective to protect women against abuse.

Police are receiving bribes to withdraw cases, said Musanhu, whose Musasa Project offers shelter and counselling to victims of domestic violence. A study by Musasa showed that the Act was not being used adequately to protect battered women. It was being applied selectively, to the detriment of the victims..

The judicial system is not friendly to women, Musanhu said, quoting the study, whose findings were presented at a workshop to mark the end of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence last Thursday.

The study also found that there were no victim-friendly facilities for abused women at most police stations. In rural areas, where traditional chiefs administered the law, many of the leaders were steeped in patriarchal attitudes which contributed to further abuse.

The study also found that no protection orders were being issued against offenders and most of the officers dealing with domestic violence cases were not trained to do the work.

We are in daily contact with victims of gender-based violence. We have evidence of abuse. Every day we have women passing through the hospitals and the courts, Musanhu said.

Keep the pressure

Musanhu said it was important to keep debate on the DVA alive and to keep pressure on the government to ac to ensure the protection provided women under the law was made available to them.

According to the Musasa director, violence against women had much wider implications than the act of beating ones spouse. She said some abused women, for example, were also prevented from using contraceptives. This had an impact on maternal and child health. The women were often prevented from protecting themselves against HIV/AIDS even when the abusive spouses were unfaithful.

Some of the women ended up conditioned to the beatings and would actually question their partners love for them if they were not assaulted a really sad situation. But one which at least one women, Samantha was able to escape. *Names have been changed to protect the victim