Esther Hombarume, Agnes Munengami, and Everst Mukandiona, all from Harare, said they had been failed by the police and the court system and struggled to find help from NGOs. “My husband was a soldier,” said Agnes as she fought back tears. “He went away for about three months and then took leave and came back to haunt me. He beat me up regularly and he raped me. I was terrified.”
She said when she went to the courts, the police said she had no case and the affair was a civil matter between her and her husband. “I have stitches on my nose,” she said, and showed participants her bruised stomach. She also told the meeting that her husbands relatives demanded she withdraw her case against him as they feared it would tarnish their image in the community.
She said she had been happily married between 1989 and 2004 but after that her life was a “horror story too ghastly to contemplate”. Agnes shocked more than 50 women bosses from virtually all NGOs dealing with Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Zimbabwe today by telling them: “We are traumatised by all of you. Please deal with our cases and do not send us from NGO to NGO and claim that you are helping us because you are not.”
Another victim, Esther, told the meeting: I was kicked, beaten up and told to leave my house by my husband. He told me that if I reported the case he would kill me. He then haunted me until I ran away and sought shelter at The Musasa Project. They have helped me every day and I thank them for everything that they have done for me.”
The Musasa Project, based in Harare, provides shelter for women who have been abused by their spouses. But the shelter is temporary. “We do not have funds to give to our clients,” Executive Director of Musasa project, Netty Musanhu, told The Zimbabwean.
“We desperately need money to help protect women who are raped and tormented everyday of their lives. The Ministry of Women Affairs and Gender has no money either to help the women. “We are struggling but we cannot just leave these women to suffer or even die.” She said legislation to protect women must be taken seriously and added: I was shocked that when we went to Gweru only six police officers out of a group of 30 said they knew about the Domestic Violence Act.”
Inspector Ngwenya said officers needed to receive training to deal with domestic violence cases. The women have decided to meet once a month to try and pave the way forward and also to ensure that the Domestic Violence Act is “respected” by “everyone, including ZRP Commissioner, Augustine Chihuri’s, cash-strapped officers.
Post published in: Politics