Chief Fortune Charumbira says most women are beaten up by their husbands for demanding their conjugal rights.
He told the Senate yesterday that it was not part of the African culture for men to beat their wives.
It was also not true that most men beat their wives because they had paid Lobola for them.
Speaking during the debate on 16-days of activism which focuses on gender violence, Chief Charumbira said: “I want this House to know that there are some people who come with funding in order to change other people’s culture. We were approached by Msasa Project and they said that gender-based violence is prevalent and so we need to go out and hold meetings in all towns to debate the causes of gender-based violence.
“Up to now, I learnt a lot. We went to places like Masvingo, Mashonaland Central and different parts of the country. The common issue which emanated from the deliberations is that women were saying that what is causing domestic violence is more to do with conjugal rights.
“A lot of women were saying men just come home and sleep without giving their spouses their conjugal rights. Women in turn accuse their men of infidelity because they will be giving their conjugal rights to other women, hence would respond by beating up their wives.”
Full contribution:
*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Thank you Mr. President for this opportunity. When I came to this august House, I did not think that I would debate but having listened to the discourse in the House, I decided to participate. Firstly, there were quite a number of points raised regarding the participation of chiefs – thank you for that recognition. I want to thank you for recognising the participation of traditional leaders. Indeed, as chiefs, we want to fight gender-based violence. We do not want violence.
Sometimes you would find people saying that when you go to a doctor and you have a headache, the diagnosis would actually try to determine the actual cause of the headache. We can debate but as long as we do not address the source, we will have challenges. There are some who leave the issue and divert it. Some would say it is a cultural thing of beating wives. Whatever culture you refer to, it is not allowed to beat a woman. That is our culture. But of course, you can use the other whip which was mentioned by the previous speaker. This is our culture. Whether you are in Chipinge, Hwange, Plumtree or any other part of the country, women should not be beaten up. Then you ask why they are being beaten up and what is causing that. You find that some were saying remove lobola because the payment of lobola is like buying a person. It is like commodification of a woman. So, we need to understand what lobola is.
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