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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]

SENATOR CHIEF Nyangazonke from Matobo District has said the fight against teenage pregnancies and child marriages can only be successful through self introspection and behavior change.

Speaking during a “Not in my Village” campaign Matabeleland South provincial inception meeting Chief Nyangazonke said each member of the community has to assume a role of protecting youngsters instead of harming them.

He said there is a need for traditional leaders to be actively involved in such programmes from the onset.

“This initiative should start with each individual. We are all parents, uncles, aunties, grandparents and guardians. Why don’t we start by saying “not in my home”. We have teenage girls within our families and communities who are pregnant and we should ask ourselves what we have done to protect these children.

“As a community we have to realise that each child should be protected by the whole community. Our culture and tradition shouldn’t be overridden by the western culture. We shouldn’t even be calling this ill child marriages because a child shouldn’t even be in a marriage,” he said.

Chief Nyangazonke said fighting these ills also requires collective effort in putting youngsters in line. He said some youngsters were engaged in drug and substance abuse and sexual activities thereby destroying their future.

Stakeholders from Matabeleland South Province have intensified efforts to fight teenage pregnancies and child marriages under the “Not in My Village” campaign which puts chiefs in the lead in fight against these ills which has been identified as a major cause of a high HIV prevalence rate.

The community-based campaign aims to raise awareness and mobilise action by engaging the traditional leaders to end child marriages. The campaign seeks to increase knowledge and awareness among traditional leaders and the general public about child marriage, causes and consequences.

It also seeks to change the attitudes and behaviours of the community gatekeepers and the general public towards child marriage and to promote the rights and well-being of girls.

The programme will also empower the community gatekeepers and the general public to take action to prevent and respond to child marriage in their villages and to support the implementation and enforcement of the laws and policies that protect girls from child marriage.

Child marriages in Zimbabwe are influenced by several factors such as poverty, gender norms, cultural and religious beliefs, lack of access to education and comprehensive health services.

@DubeMatutu