Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCOZ) has called upon the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) to incapacitate and protect women from all forms of abuse.
Addressing journalists yesterday at the Women, Peace and Reconciliation Strategy Dialogue, WCOZ Vice Chairperson, Veronica Maumbire averred that the NPRC should include women in its commission and allow them to air their views
She said there is urgent need to engage women to make sure that they live in a society where they completely enjoy their rights.
“There is no need for women to be victimized, we need a free environment to participate freely in forums and victimization is not an option for us, we do not want to be exposed to victimization,
“We have been disadvantaged for quite a long time where issues of conflict are happening; it is the women that are mostly being affected, however the good about the commission is that there is recognition of the importance of gender by involvement of the gender section,” said Maumbire.
Aspiring Member of Parliament for Harare Central, and founder and national coordinator of Zimbabwe Women in Politics Alliance(ZWIPA) Linda Masarira said most women in Zimbabwe have been subjected to acts of violence for a long time now and there have been no effort to assist these women emotionally.
“Most women that have been subjected to acts of violence still live in the same neighborhoods with the perpetrators, in spaces like the rural areas women are raped and tortured and still live in the same environment with those men and there has been no effort to ensure they have access to counseling,
“It is critically important for NPRC to start engaging with the rural women who have been abused through all the electoral processes in Zimbabwe, for a long time now women have bared the burden of the election period,
“NPRC should not look at the post conflict but look at what happens now especially since we are going into the election period, action should be taken at party level to end violence,” emphasized Masarira.
Founding Executive Director of Tag A Life International Nyaradzo Mashayamombe added that the NPRC should have mechanisms to protect victims and survivors because there have been multiple atrocities from the post- independence Gukurahundi, 2005, 2008 conflicts.
She suggested that these events should be acknowledged because it is about people who have witnessed violence in its different natures and NPRC must make sure participants in these processes are protected.
