via Khumalo to table motion forcing respect for constitution | The Zimbabwean 16 July 2014 by Pamenus Tuso
Women are worried that nothing has changed in their lives despite the fact that the new constitution has a number of positive gender components.
Gender activist and Bulawayo East Member of Parliament, Tabitha Khumalo, said there was an urgent need to realign laws such as the Criminal Codification Act and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) with the new constitution in order to ensure that gender equality becomes a reality in Zimbabwe.
Women who spoke to The Zimbabwean said they still faced a number of challenges, several months after the adoption of the new constitution, which they had hoped would plug gender loopholes.
“Gender equality will remain forever a pipedream as long as we have laws such as the Criminal Codification Act, which gives police the right to arrest women who move at night – presuming they are prostitutes.
POSA deprives women of their right to associate,” said Khumalo, who plans to table a motion in Parliament to force the government to realign retrogressive laws with the new constitution. “The motion will cover all laws that are not compatible with the new supreme law. It is high time we should as a country respect our constitution,” she said.
Gender activist Mavis Moyo said although she was concerned by the snail’s pace at which the realignment process was proceeding, her major worry was the continued abuse and suffering of women despite progressive laws being on the statute books.
“We may have good laws on paper but as long as those laws are not enforced we have a problem. For example we have the Domestic Violence
Act, which is hailed as one of the most progressive laws for the
advancement of women. But women continue to be subjected to abuse by their partners as there is a general reluctance on the part of the police to enforce the act and protect abused women,” said Moyo.
The promulgation of the new constitution saw women celebrate the inclusion of provisions on gender and equality and women’s rights. From a gender perspective, the it has been hailed as one of the most progressive constitutions in Africa.
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