Her husband who also grew up in the same area, after finishing his secondary education, moved to Harare to study Motor Mechanics. In courting Sheila, he used to come back to the village for reunions with his family and friends showing off with different cars that he pretended to be his own. These cars were in fact those of his clients at that time.
He proposed to Sheila and she accepted mainly because he had grown up in the same village with her. But little did she know that her woes were far from over.Having paid lobola price in full to her father and the husband impressed everyone at the poor family. After a colourful wedding ceremony at the village homestead Sheila thought she had defied all odds and she was ready to begin a new happy life.
When they arrived in the capital city of Harare with her spouse, she found out that he was not as wealthy as he had claimed. Also the fact that all those cars that he had bragged about were in effect not his. He also started to ill treat her after they had given birth to their first child. He started to come home from work late or sometimes not come at all and if she inquired as to the reason, he would dismiss her questions.
He would also remind her that as he was the one who paid the rent so he will be hustling around to make ends meet. She explained that since she was helpless and given the situation at home in the village she could not go back. She also had to consider the welfare of her child.Now she is pregnant with her second child and this has compounded her dependency on her abusive husband further.
One night in recent times, he assaulted her. It was a beating that he appeared to have planned as he had talked about that she did not give him much respect he needed as the head of the house. The major reason for the assault appears to be the fact that he was not happy about Sheila’s relatives who had moved into a house across the street in which they lived. These relatives were single men and her husband could not believe that they were related to her.
Sheila narrated her ordeal thus,
“ It was on Wednesday when he came back from work at 5 oclock in the evening and he found me leaving the premises of my relatives who had invited me to meet their wives which got him so angry”
She continued, “I never thought he would go to the extent of beating me and thought that it would end like every time when we had a quarrel but this time he did it.”
“I have never been beaten like that in my life. He used his hard knuckled fists on my face and all over my body. I was eight months pregnant but he appeared not to care.”
After the beating, she hid herself in the house as she had too many visible injuries all over her body. She did not venture out of the yard for at least three weeks to avoid her neighbours even though they knew what had happened . Sheila explained the reason for hiding herself and her injuries even though she knew she needed medical attention thus, “I did not go to the hospital because I knew the hospital staff would demand a police report and I cannot afford to get my husband arrested”
Her neighbours also encouraged her to report to the police because they heard all what had happened to her but she stood firm in refusing to do so.In the end it appears she has decided to stay with her abusive husband for the sake of her children. This is despite the fact that her relatives have urged her to leave her husband and apply for maintenance fee at the civil’s magistrate courts.
She refuses to do so, because she has heard from other people that the money that one sometimes gets through that process is never be adequate to look after the children. Or it means that she will always have to go to court to get him to pay.
Analysis
This is one of the many examples of the plight of married women in Zimbabwe who after being married they experience gender based domestic violence. Many women are also not utilizing the laws that have been made available to protect them mainly out of fear or out of concern for the welfare of their children.
Where a man commits acts of violence against his wife, partner and family, the likelihood that he is the breadwinner is high. Because the wife is also usually economically dependent on her husband, she is pushed by circumstances and will not report the case to the police or to anyone.
In cases where the legal structures are proceeding with a case, I do believe the law is serving its purposes. The problem is that the women concerned, who drop their domestic violence cases, are not allowing the law to serve them for a number of reasons. This indicates to me that inequality in other areas needs to be maximized before women are in a position to allow the laws on domestic violence to serve them
The Domestic Violence Act is not meant to protect wives against physical abuse from their husbands only — it is an extensive law that applies to ex-girlfriends/boyfriends, step children, adopted children or biological children of the abuser, those co-habiting, and any other person (male or female) living in the same house with the abuser whether or not they are related to the abuser. The scope of the abuse stretches to verbal abuse, psychological abuse, harassment, stalking among other forms of abuse. Generally, the Act is to be applauded and it is up to the abused and/or those aware of the abuse to take advantage of the provisions of such law
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