InfocusNews 30 May - 03 June 2022
Justice Ministry implored to enact law that protects young girls from sexual exploitation
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HE Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has been given 12 months to enact a law that protects all children from sexual exploitation in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, according to a latest ruling. This came out in a Constitutional Court ruling that was made last week which states that the legal age of consent for sex should be raised to 18 from 16. The judgment has been welcomed by many in a country where rights groups say teen pregnancies are forcing hundreds of girls out of school. The age of consent for sex has for long been controversial and gender activists argued that the 16-year age for consent was too young and it allowed for the exploitation of young girls.
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In 2016, the ConCourt outlawed marriage before the age of 18 following a challenge to provisions of the marriage law that allowed child marriages. In the latest case, Harare lawyer Tendai Biti argued that it was unconstitutional that children could not be married until they attain 18 “yet the law allowed them to be abused from the age of 16”. Statistics from the United Nations Population Fund state that Zimbabwe has a high adolescent fertility rate of 108 per 1 000 among young women aged 15 to 19. In seperate interviews Pumula Constituency legislator Sichelesile Mahlangu said the abuse of girls was a serious cause for concern. She said a number of girls had fallen out of school due to pregnan-
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cy while perpetrators continued abusing them with impunity. “We are worried that girls continue being exposed to a number of abuses especially sexually as some have fallen pregnant while at school. Now that this issue has been tackled we hope we will see a decrease in men taking advantage of underage girls in the name of age of consent being 16,”she said. Monalisa Sidambe a vendor from Cowdray Park said the news brings so much hope to distressed parents whose children had been sexually abused in the past. “We have had a number of cases in our community where old men went scot free after bedding our school going children. The law protected these predators and now that the age of consent has changed we will be at peace,” she said.
InfocusNews has been documented, which has serious global health implications.
Overuse of COVID-19 antibiotics could result in antimicrobial resistance -Health researchers
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EALTH experts have warned that the continued overuse of antibiotics especially to treat Covid-19 is a recipe for disaster for Zimbabweans who have an ongoing battle against disease burden and crippled healthcare system. In a paper, Itai Chitungo, Tafadzwa Dzinamatira, Tinashe Nyazika, Helena Herrera, Godfreyy Musuka, and Grant Murewanhena, said the over use of the medication following the outbreak of Covid-19 is fuelling the deadly antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which is now a global health concern. The paper titled ‘Inappropritae Antibiotic Use in Zimbabwe in the COVID-19 era: A perfect recipe for Antimicrobial Resistance’ was published by the Antibiotics Journal 2022. When antimicrobial medicines like antibiotics are misused, abused or overused, bugs become resistant to the medicines used to fight them. It means antimicrobials become ineffective in fighting the microorganisms that cause disease and as facebook.com/wildtrustzim |
a result, these medicines then stop working when needed the most. “Over the years, antimicrobials and in particular antibiotics, have prevailed as the most prescribed medications for patients, when their use has not been appropriate]. Both the overuse and improper use of antibiotics (including in humans, livestock, and food production), poor infection prevention and control practices, and international travel are considered some of the leading drivers for the emergence and spread of AMR,” said Chitungo and colleagues. “The negative consequences of increasing AMR to global health are well documented and multiple, and include limiting the treatment options for resistant pathogens responsible for significant burdens of disease. For example, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR- TB) has emerged, requiring more antibiotics, and with increased toxicity to patients and high costs.” In the case of tuberculosis, Chitungo and colleagues said even extreme drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB)
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“The absence of a standard treatment regimen for COVID-19, combined with the lack of laboratory facilities for testing in resource-limited countries, caused some nations to adopt empirical approaches to antimicrobial prescription and use, leading to the rampant use of antimicrobials such as azithromycin doxycycline, and ceftriaxone to treat and manage COVID-19 patients,” they argued. “Some studies also indicated that azithromycin had the potential to disrupt viral replication meaning some members of the public are at a risk of suffering from infections without any useful remedies. Other studies have also shown that AMR could claim the lives of more people in the future compared to known top killer diseases like HIV and cancer. More than 1, 2 million people died of AMR in 2019 globally, higher than 863 873 recorded Aids related deaths. AMR deaths were also higher than the annual 700 660 recorded for breast cancer while malaria also accounted for fewer deaths at 643 381. Chitungo and colleagues concluded that AMR poses a major threat to human health around the world and low resourced countries like Zimbabwe are likely to suffer if deliberate measures are not taken to invest in laboratories and local production of medicines.
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Improve social safety nets for the elderly - portfolio committee told
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ulawayo residents who attended the 2022 National Budget feedback meeting called on the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development and the Expanded Senate Thematic Committee on Sustainable Development to improve elderly persons’ social protection and safety nets citing that the rising inflation is forcing the elderly to live in extreme poverty. One of the participants, Thandekile Moyo, shared her concern about the budget allocation that was made to the department of Social Welfare to reduce poverty and enhance self-reliance through the provision of social protection services to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in Zimbabwe. “Social welfare grants that are given facebook.com/wildtrustzim |
to the elderly in Zimbabwe should be increased due to the hyperinflation which continues to ravage our economy. Elderly persons should be given their grants timeously so that they can earn a living,” said Moyo as she cited that some elderly people in her community last received their grant money in December last year.
It is estimated that there are at least 760 000 and continue to experience fragile livelihoods, weak social security support, poor access to health and care services. Another participant who did not disclose their name cited that the pension funds have been eroded by the rising inflation. “I suggest that the pension should be indexed according to the rate of
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inflation so that the elderly people do not earn money that is not enough to sustain themselves. My suggestion is that pension funds should be indexed at 20 percent above the current inflation,” he said. The feedback meeting was conducted in order to fulfil Parliament’s constitutional obligation to include the public in all of its activities, particularly when it comes to the drafting and reviewing of the National Budget. During the hearings, representatives from the portfolio committee shared some of the budget allocations and progress which has been made since the adoption of the 2021 National budget in an effort to enhance transparent budget process.
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Academia, civil society conduct Training of Trainers to strengthen citizen participation
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his morning, the Public Policy and Research Institute of Zimbabwe (PPRIZ) alongside its collaborating partners, Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD), Development Studies Association of Zimbabwe (DeSAZ), Community Podium, Makokoba Development Trust, Youth Invest, Gweru United Progressive Residents and Rate Payers Development Association (GUPRARDA), and Esigodini Residents Association conducted a Training of Trainers to share training strategies for a citizen participation Training Manual. The Training Manual aims to provide civil society actors and academia with information on the importance of participating in local development so that they take a leading role in monitoring the implementation of gender responsive policies. Trainers will use the
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information from the training, to train Local Participating Champions within various communities so as to strengthen citizen participation and teach citizens key skills to assist them to demand accountability from Chapter 12 Independent commissions During the training the facilitator, Dr Rodrick Fayayo emphasized that the manual was designed for both experienced and inexperienced trainers. Dr Fayayo highlighted that the Training Manual provides both theoretical and practical skills for effective engagement with various stakeholders including policy makers in Zimbabwe. “An excellent facilitator is one who knows not only how to speak comfortably in front of an audience but can also convey the meeting pro-
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cess in a simple, concise manner,” said Dr Fayayo. He explained that a good facilitator should be able to stay neutral and treat all participants as equals, regardless of power, personality types, personal opinions, or biases.
“All trainers should know the roles of elected leaders in the community...”
InfocusNews Dr Fayayo shared knowledge about community mobilization which was defined as the bringing together of the community for a cause. Trainers emphasized the need to create community structures in order to mobilise the community. “All trainers should know the roles of elected leaders in the community where they will be mobilising people considering that successful advocacy can only be achieved by people who understand the local governance systems,” said DrFayayo The manual focuses on how civil society actors should be familiar with the Chapter 12 Independent Commissions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe as these Independent Commissions are responsible for supporting and entrenching human rights and democracy as well as protecting the sovereignty and interest of citizens
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Electoral Information Blitz The move by ZEC precedes the launch of the delimitation programme which is ongoing and expected to end on December 31 this year.
Silaigwana recently said the voter’s roll to be used for the forthcoming delimination exercise will be available for inspection to members of the public.
ZEC removes 32 000 deceased persons from voters’ roll
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HE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has since removed 32 010 deceased persons from the voter’s roll in accordance with the Electoral Act, giving those who were erroneously removed at least seven days to rectify the error. According to Section 33(1) of the Electoral Act if a voter registration officer has reason to believe that a voter whose name is registered on a voters’ roll has become disqualified for registration as a voter, or is dead, the voter registration officer shall remove his or her name therefrom. In General Notice 1197 of 2022, carried in the Government Gazette on May 31, ZEC Chief Elections Officer Utoile Silaigwana said those who have been erroneously added to the list must approach ZEC within seven days. “It is hereby notified, in terms of section 33(4) read with section
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27(1) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13], that voter registration officers have reason to believe that the persons whose names are listed in the First Schedule, and who were registered as voters for the constituencies, wards and polling stations listed therein have died. The names of those persons will be removed from the voters roll unless notice of appeal is given to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission,” he said. “By means of this notice, notification is made to any voter on the First Schedule who may be alive to lodge an objection, at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Mahachi Quantum, 1, Nelson Mandela Avenue, corner Kaguvi Street and Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare, and at the respective Commission Provincial Offices, to the inclusion of his or her name in the First Schedule using the form prescribed in the Second Schedule no later than seven days from the date of publication of this notice.”
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He said the law does not provide for the independent audit of the voter’s roll hence the commission will not yield to any amount of pressure exerted to it to act against its governing Act and Constitutional mandate.
“The names of those persons will be removed from the voters roll unless notice of appeal is given to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission...”
Removal of Deceased Persons
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Electoral Information Blitz
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Electoral Information Blitz
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