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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Index of articles surrounding the debate of the Domestic Violence Bill
Domestic
Violence Bill read for second time
The
Herald (Zimbabwe)
October 06, 2006
http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=9831&cat=1&livedate=10/06/2006
View
the index of articles on the debate around the Domestic Violence
Bill
THE Domestic
Violence Bill which seeks to provide for protection and relief
to victims was yesterday read for the second time in the House of
Assembly.
The proposed
legislation will go to the committee stage on October 17.
Justice, Legal
and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa told the
House that he would move a number of amendments during the committee
stage.
He was responding
to concerns raised by lawmakers during the second reading debate.
The amendments
included giving chiefs’ community courts the jurisdiction to preside
over domestic violence cases and mandate to issue protection orders
to victims of domestic violence.
The two ministries
of education would form part of the envisaged anti-domestic violence
committee that would be transformed into a board with the view to
facilitating proper management of issues concerning domestic violence.
Other amendments
to be made include the deletion of the term "jealous tendencies"
as constituting domestic violence. This was because naturally spouses
feel jealous of each other.
Responding to
concerns by some legislators that the Bill would erode some cultural
values, Cde Chinamasa said Zimbabweans should move away from a system
of condoning domestic violence in the name of culture.
Culture, he
said, was not statistic but dynamic with the agent of transformation
being justice and truth.
"We should not
justify violence against our women, wives and children because we
are afraid to look at the dark parts of our cupboard," Cde Chinamasa
said.
"We are trying
to correct what happens in the dark. We cannot proceed in the manner
that we are doing to the detriment of our wives."
Parliamentarians,
he said, should take note that the proposed law was not only seeking
to criminalise domestic violence but had provisions for counseling
of the victims, adding that traditional leaders would also be part
of the counseling team.
The minister
dismissed claims by some lawmakers that there was need for more
consultations on the Bill, saying there had been enough consultations
spanning for more than 10 years on the proposed law.
"Sometimes we
speak with a forked tongue. We want democracy at the national level
but at the household level we are the worst dictators," he said,
amid laughter from the floor.
Turning to the
proposals by stakeholders for mandatory sentence against perpetrators
of domestic violence, Cde Chinamasa said this would be difficult
to apply in view of the spectrum nature of cases of domestic violence.
He urged non-governmental
organisations to support the Government in the implementation of
the proposed statute in the form of offering financial assistance
in the training of police officers, magistrates and counsellors.
The minister
lashed out at comments made by Tafara-Mabvuku legislator Mr Timothy
Mubawu (MDC) that the Bill was "diabolic" and should not be passed
in the House.
Mr Mubawu told
the House on Wednesday that the proposed law was against God’s principles
that women and men should not be equal.
Cde Chinamasa
said the contribution by the opposition lawmaker was provocative.
"You know the
devil can quote the Bible when he wants to subvert the people. We
cannot accept that in this day of age. Men and women are equal.
I hope that the primitive language that was used by Honourable Mubawu
is not shared," he said.
Marriages, Cde
Chinamasa said, were not built on violence but on love and mutual
respect, adding that this was lacking in society. Contributing to
the debate, Chief George Chimombe of Manicaland said the Bill was
noble although it should be crafted in a manner that that did not
erode some of the core cultural values.
"If we do not
follow our culture, then our dignity would be eroded as Africans.
We must make laws that endure the test of time," he said..
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