GBV: the new silent menace of abused men

By Ann Zulu

ZAMBIA joined the rest of the world in the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence (GBV) on November 25, an annual campaign that for more than 20 years has aimed at eradicating violence.

Gender-based violence can be defined as all acts perpetrated against women, men, girls and boys on the basis of their sex which cause or could cause them physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm.

GBV violates the human rights of an individual, disrupts families and undermines socio-economic development of a county.

Domestic violence is the key gender-based problem in Zambia and actions to eradicate the vice largely address women’s and girl’s vulnerabilities.

This year’s 16 days of activism against GBV theme “Orange the world: Raise money to end violence against women and girls”, is one indicator that much attention is given to women and girls than to men and boys, thereby sending a wrong signal that only women and girls are vulnerable to GBV.

Such a one-sided approach casts a shadow on the plight of the men and boys who are usually silent about their predicament.

While news of violence and crimes against women and girls are reported extensively in the media, there is a growing number of men and boys who are silently facing physical and psychological violence at the hands of their family members and spouses.

Notwithstanding the fact that women and girls are more vulnerable to violence, side lining male victims could have negative consequences on the efforts towards preventing and eradicating the scourge of GBV.

Zambia has largely remained a patriarchal society; for a man to admit being harassed by a woman is humiliating and, in a way, shameful.

Even worse is the fear of humiliation by a husband who wants to go public and declare being abused by his wife.

Domestic violence against men in Zambia is not well recognised by the law enforcers with the generalised perception that men cannot be victims of violence.

In many instances, male victims of GBV would rather not report such cases to the police and other law enforcement agencies for fear of being ridiculed.

Joseph Phiri, a Lusaka dweller who confesses to have on several occasions fallen victim of both verbal and physical violence by his wife, thinks reporting her to the police is taboo.

He says that even if he was to report the matter to the police, they would not take it serious.

“My wife always suspects me of cheating on her because I have a child with another woman. So she insults me and sometimes hits me with any object.

“She once hit me with a glass and was cut; I could not go to the hospital because I would need to explain my injury: I felt so embarrassed. Reporting her to the police is even worse because they will be the first ones to laugh at me,” he said.

Like women, men also find it hard to cope with abusive marriages and relationships and in reality the situation is worse for men because they cannot easily share their experiences.

There is a silent but factual increase in the number of men who are physically or psychologically abused by their spouses.

Those silent men who are beaten, denied sex and food, and locked out of homes, also need help. Some become perpetually unhappy, lose friends, become insecure and eventually lose their minds.

Others resort to spending most of their time in bars to drown their sorrows and end up being alcoholics with the end result of a broken marriage, street kids and increasing the risk of HIV infections and early death.

Gender activist Gladys Mutukwa has bemoaned the increasing numbers of men being battered by their wives.

She has encouraged men, who are GBV victims, to rise to the occasion and break the silence by sharing their experiences and reporting such cases to law enforcement agencies.

Ms. Mutukwa notes that being silent could be fatal, emphasising on the growing trend of women killing their spouses.

“The number of men being battered by their wives is very alarming; men also need to come out in the open and talk openly about this issue the way women are doing. Keeping quiet is no solution, it can even be regrettable because nowadays men are even murdered by their spouses,” she said.

It is also important to note that violence is increasing with scenarios where women, especially those with significant incomes and flying careers, undermine men’s sense of worth.

In some homes, women torture their spouses with constant criticism, belittling their husband’s abilities and competencies. Some women have mastered the art of manipulation of feelings and emotions to induce guilt, subvert husband’s relationship with the children and repeatedly make and break promises.

It is now clear that effects of GBV, either engineered by men or women, can be devastating and long lasting.

Any man or woman living in an abusive environment leads to disillusionment and sometimes self-destruction.

Maybe rather than addressing GBV symptoms through depicting the woman’s face of gender violence, we need to seriously address the causes.

The solution is likely to be found in a harmonized and collective approach that deeply addresses the concerns and issues of both women and men.

Consider women for managerial positions, media houses urged

By Ann Zulu

MEDIA houses should consider giving female journalists leadership positions to address gender disparities in the media, Gender Minister Victoria Kalima has said.

 Gender Minister Victoria Kalima

Ms Kalima observed that despite the increase in the number of female journalists in Zambia, few hold senior and management positions.

“In Zambia today, we are very lucky to have a lot of female journalists and these women are hardworking. But despite having more women joining the media fraternity, only a few of them are holding top positions,” Ms Kalima said.

“The challenge of gender disparities in the media still remains as majority of people holding leadership positions are men, yet we have a lot of hardworking female journalists.  It is rare that we see women in senior and management positions both in the private and public media. It is high time that women are given opportunities to lead media in institutions,” she said.

The minister told this reporter in an interview that having more women leading media institutions would help address challenges affecting women and girls such as gender based violence, child marriages and gender inequalities, among others.

“Not having a lot of women holding senior positions in the media is hindering our aspiration of gender equality. The fact that we do not have women in leadership positions means that we will not have stories of women and girls in the papers, TV and radio,” she said.

“But if we have more women in top positions, women’s voices will be heard because women are game changers and they will fight for equality. I am confident that we will even have more stories of women and girls making headlines. But as it is now, women are considered not to be newsmakers and that has to change,” she added.

Ms Kalima said her ministry will work hard to ensure that the gender equality and equity law as contained in the Constitution was implemented as directed by President Lungu and the Patriotic Front to ensure that gender equality was achieved in Zambia.

“As a ministry, we will start sensitizing the private and public sector on what the Constitution says; we need to see to it that if we have male CEO then the deputy should be a female, we want to end that gender imbalance.”

Chief Chipepo punishes parents behind early marriage with farm labour

By Ann Zulu

PARENTS in Chief Chipepo’s area in Southern Province who allow their girl children into early marriages shall be sentenced to no less than six months intensive manual work in other people’s farms.

Chief Chipepo warned that perpetrators of early marriages would be forced to undertake some farm work to punish and shame them and as a deterrent to such marriages. 

The traditional leader told this reporter in an interview that, although there has been a reduction in child marriages in his area, the practice still remained a significant concern requiring continuous attention.

“I have put in place strict measures to end early marriages in my chiefdom, but the notable one is where I have given orders if a parent forces or allows their young girls into early marriage, they will be punished to do work in other people’s fields for a period of not less than six months,” he said.

“Even though there has been a decrease in the number of child marriages in my area, the vice has to completely end and I am confident that with such strict measures, my chiefdom will have no cases of early marriages. Girls should have same privileges that boys have, they have a right to go to school as well, and they have a right to choose who they would like to marry when they are older.”

By using his powers as a traditional leader, Chief Chipepo said he will continue to ensure that his subjects desist from acts that violated the rights of young girls, and urged other traditional leaders to scale up their efforts and ensure that young girls are protected in their chiefdoms.

“As traditional leaders, we have a pivotal role to play in eliminating child marriages in Zambia. It is time to intervene as traditional leaders and steer the community into knowing the rights of children. We must end this vice before it destroys our girls and our country as a whole,” Chief Chipepo said.

We’re ready for Xmas rush, say bankers

By Ann Zulu

ALL banks have sufficient funds to deal with the demand associated with the festive season, Bankers Association of Zambia chief executive officer Leonard Mwanza has said.

Bankers Association of Zambia chief executive officer Leonard Mwanza

And Mr Mwanza has advised people not to overspend during the festive season but save for things that were critical to their lives.

There is anxiety among bank users that the banks might run out of cash during the festive season, following the high demand for money during this period.

A check at some Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the Central Business District by this reporter found long queues, as people jostled to withdraw money in preparation for the holidays.

One of the bank users Lewis Mwewa told the Daily Nation that he was withdrawing money in advance because the banks usually run out of cash during the festive season.

“Last year, I had challenges in accessing my money during the festive season. I had to wait for two days to get my money which was very inconveniencing on my part because I wanted to use the money for my holiday. So this time around I have decided to withdraw the money in advance,” he said.

But Mr Mwanza has urged depositors not to panic as there would be no cash flow problems during the festive season.

He said the banks were fully prepared for the increase in volumes and transactions that came with the holidays.

“The money we have is enough to cater for the festive season and there should be no fear at all. We know that there will be traffic at the banks during this period because people want to spend a little bit, but that shouldn’t be the basis for alarm that things are bad.

“The banks are fully prepared to handle the pressure that will come in as we go towards holidays. It is normal that during this period people tend to withdraw more, but there is no linkage that banks are expected to run out of cash. Those are just unfounded rumours. Liquidity on the market has improved, so we don’t expect any challenges,” he said.

Mr Mwanza also urged people to avoid withdrawing a lot of money and overspending just for the festive season, saying that there was life beyond this period.

He said there was need for people to plan and spend reasonably to avoid frustrations of not having money at the beginning of the year.

“This is the time that people should be serving money and keeping it safe. It’s time that we thought about more important things than just spending for festive season. We need people to serve and keep resources for things that are critical to their lives.

‘‘This season comes and goes, people must spend reasonably and avoid carrying too much cash; this is also a dangerous period, thieves are also active,” Mr. Mwanza said.

Govt shares resources equally - Veep

Ann Zulu

GOVERNMENT does not discriminate in the distribution of resources and equipment to its citizens, says Vice-President Inonge Wina.

Vice-President Inonge Wina.

Mrs Wina told Parliament yesterday that every part of Zambia was important to Government in terms of empowerment and distribution of resources.

The Vice President assured that Government was determined to create wealth among its citizens by distributing equipment such as tractors and other vital machinery to women cooperatives as well as youth clubs in chiefdoms in all provinces.

She was responding to a question by UPND Mazabuka Member of Parliament Garry Nkombo who alleged that Government did not fairly distribute tractors and accessories administered by the Ministry of Gender to chiefdoms.

This was during the Vice-President's 30-minute question time in Parliament yesterday.

She said the Ministry of Gender conducted an assessment in all the 10 provinces of Zambia before distributing the tractors and their accessories.

"Government does not discriminate the distribution of resources, equipment and machinery in this country. Government is determined to create wealth among our people," she said.

She, however, took a swipe at the opposition MP and his party (UPND) for not complaining about the unequal distribution of the 650 health posts dotted around Zambia.

Ms. Wina said Southern Province received the largest share of the health posts over other provinces in the country.

And the Vice-President has disclosed that the entire country would be connected to telecommunications by 2020.

Ms. Wins said Government, working with the private sector, was putting up close to 500 telecommunication towers throughout Zambia in order to improve connectivity in all chiefdoms including Chasefu constituency in Lundazi district in Eastern Province which is reportedly experiencing poor mobile network.

"All parts of Zambia will be connected with telecommunication towers by 2019 and beyond. Government is working closely with the private sector to improve mobile communication in rural areas but there are limitations," she said.

PF Chasefu MP Gerald Zimba asked the Vice-President what plans Government had to improve mobile telecommunication in his constituency and bemoaned the poor services there.

Meanwhile, the Vice President has disclosed that Government has released funds for the construction of the Kitwe-Ndola dual carriage way.

Ms. Wins said the road played an economic role in Zambia in terms of connectivity and transportation of goods and services.

Ms. Wina assured PF Roan MP Chishimba Kambwili that Government attached great importance to the road.

Mr. Kambwili alleged that the contractor had failed to do the job and wondered why the contract could not be terminated and the project allocated to another contractor. 

Mwiimbu, Lubinda in Parley confrontation

By Ann Zulu

THERE were angry exchanges in Parliament yesterday between Justice Minister Given Lubinda and Monze Central Member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu when the latter accused the Patriotic Front government of allegedly transferring civil servants in the police service on tribal lines.

Justice Minister Given Lubinda

Mr Lubinda, who is Kabwata MP, was particularly incensed that Mr Mwiimbu who had been in Parliament for four terms, could use un-parliamentary language and reduce the debate in the House to a tribal talk.

In his debate on the expenditure on the Office of the Public Protector, Mr Mwiimbu claimed that Government was making transfers particularly in the Zambia Police Service on account of tribalism.

Mr Mwiimbu demanded that the Public Prosecutor should investigate how the PF government was transferring police officers on tribal lines and on the suspicion that they were sympathetic to the opposition UPND.

The Monze MP, who is also leader of the opposition in the House, accused the PF of allegedly lacerating the judicial system in the country and other institutions of governance.

The accusation triggered angry protests from Mr Lubinda who told Mr Mwiimbu to avoid debating on tribal lines because Zambia was a unitary State and that tribal sentiments were a danger to the peace and unity of the country.

“Mr Mwiimbu is a perpetrator of violence. Why does he want to draw the Public Protector to his tribal politics when this appointment is in good faith and for the benefit of all Zambians?’’

Mr Lubinda said that it was unfortunate that Mr. Mwiimbu could start dragging the Public Protector into tribal talk during his debate.

But when he tried to respond to Mr. Lubinda’s comments through a point of order, Mr. Mwiimbu was restrained by the deputy chairperson of Parliament, Mwimba Malama, a move that incensed UPND members.

At this point, Mr Mwiimbu was heard telling Mr Lubinda to “get out” at which point the leader of the opposition ordered the UPND parliamentarians to walk out of the House, which they did.

Mr Lubinda later told Parliament that Zambia was steadily moving into a higher step on the governance ladder by seeking to introduce vital constitutional offices in line with the principles of democracy.

He said Part 18, Chapter 252 of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill of 2015, provided for the setting up of the Office of the Public Protector and that having such an office would be indicative of the great strides being made towards making constitutional democracy and the fulfilment of human rights a reality for the Zambian people.

“Some political and social commentators have unfairly presented a caricature of Zambia’s governance record, but on the contrary, there is useful evidence indicating the country has fared a whole lot better than others in Africa and beyond the continent,”