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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

THE Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (Buz) has teamed up with the Zimbabwe Volleyball Association (ZVA) and Lynx Up to fight gender-based violence (GBV) in sport.

GBV does not only comprise physical abuse, rape and attempted rape, but also includes sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, forced early marriage, domestic violence, marital rape, trafficking, female genital mutilation and economic abuse, and sport is not immune to these ills.

The three organisations will hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss the effects of GBV in sport and come up with possible solutions to this scourge.

Buz president Joe Mujuru said: “The meeting will discuss GBV in sport from a male coach’s perspective. Last week there was a similar programme where we had female players on the platform. The coaches that we have invited for tonight’s conversation are Addison Chiware the basketball national team head coach, Tawanda Nemutambwe his assistant, Kelvin Ben, who is in charge of Foxes, as well as Donald Chademana, a former national team assistant coach. These will share their experiences on the subject at hand. Charmaine Chamboko and Mercy Chatyoka will be the hosts.”

The initiative is part of events to mark the international 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, which started on November 25 and runs up to Thursday.

This year’s theme, “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!” seeks to encourage participation by every member of society to end violence, which affects more than 35 percent of women and girls in Zimbabwe. – @innocentskizoe