Zim’s economic crisis fuels child marriages

MONA-LISA DUBE

Zimbabwe has in the past few years experienced unrelenting economic meltdown forcing young girls into child marriages as a means of survival.

Analysts say the crisis could undo decades of work to end the practice.

In some circumstances, young girls commit to the act on their own due to deepening poverty, which is said to be the main driver of child marriages.

But, in other circumstances, it is the family that marries off their young girls to older men as an attempt to alleviate poverty in the home or for religious religions.

The rate, some analysts say, is likely to increase.

In most cases, the young girls are abused in these marriages.

Some survivors, who reside in Epworth, told Business Times this week  they willingly entered into marriages as teenagers as they were failing to support themselves.

Now aged 18, Tsitsi, (not her real name) narrated how she suffered abuse at the hands of her ex-husband who she married when she was 15 years old.

“He used to beat me up especially after I got pregnant for the second time.  I stayed because I had nowhere else to go with my children and he tried to kill me twice,” she said in tears.

“At one point, he tried to burn me inside the room we were living by lighting up the gas. Before he ran away he stabbed me with a knife on the arm and just above my left breast,” Tsitsi said, holding her two-year-old on her lap.

She, however, did not report the matter to the police and has not seen him since the incident.

Another victim, Tatenda (not real name) who has now just turned 18 has a similar story. Her husband left her when she was eight months pregnant and never returned.

“After the death of my father, my mother got really ill and all our relatives abandoned us. I was 14 years old and I had to fend for my mother.

 I then found a job as a house helper where I met someone who I fell in love with. He said he wanted to marry me and would help me take care of my mother,” she said.

“After we got married, when I was eight months pregnant he just woke up one morning saying he was going to look for a job but never returned. I have not seen him since then.”

Other young women who spoke to Business Times had similar stories with another saying she kept bearing children as she could not afford to buy family planning tablets.

They all live in the same complex where they are supposed to pay US$3 per month for a room.

They are failing to raise this amount every month as they are out of employment and have to do manual work for their landlords to cover up for the unpaid rentals.

“Our neighbours sometimes give us piece jobs where we do their house chores or work in the fields and we are paid about ZWL$20 that we use to buy food for ourselves and our children,” she said.

While young girls would think marriage is the solution to their economic problems, it would seem men are also shying away from the responsibility in an economy where the cost of living for an average family is more than $ZWL18, 000.

Statistics have shown that 34% of girls in Zimbabwe are married before the age of 18 and 5% are married before their 15th birthday while 2% of boys in Zimbabwe are married before their 18th birthday.