By PAUL BUPE –
ACCESSIBILITY to justice needs to be improved, especially with regard to the use of language in courts.
Given that majority of Zambians depend on interpreters in the courts of law to access justice; it is expedient, therefore, that judges and lawyers apply themselves to learning as many languages as possible.
Ngugi wa’Thiongo, a visiting professor to Zambia in October 2013, was right when he urged Zambians to focus on the Language of Justice.
Eighty per cent of the citizens in Zambia were linguistically foreigners in their own countries who need interpreters to survive, this linguistic vicious cycle has meant that for employment, college places, promotions, monetary gains and human resources, one needs English or other European languages.”
He said a lot of people on the continent have been denied justice and other services due to the concentration on the use of foreign or European languages in the administration of justice which he said was not supposed to be the case.
He urged African countries to come up with policies that are aimed at encouraging the use of local languages for the citizens to be freed from the colonial bondage they have been in despite attaining national independence.
He called for African countries to encourage the use of local languages for the citizenry to interpret various policies and legal provisions in the constitutions.
He said many people in Africa were left out in the development agenda of their respective countries because of the rampant use of European languages.
Due to loss of content or error translation, innocent people have been incarcerated. This should not be the case in the land of one’s birth.
A person should be free to defend oneself in one’s own mother language and be heard courteously without impediment.
Given that in today’s Zambia there is rapid social and cultural erosion such that all kinds of evil are now masquerading under the guise of human rights, let me submit to the Commission that Zambians are throwing away their African-ness in exchange for Western lifestyles leading to a situation where we have to copy without control and mimic without understanding.
This has put great stress on our society including our legal system. On the issue of gender-based violence as the test case in the act of formulating and implementing laws in an effort to solve a social problem, the Zambian legal and justice system risks the danger of male incarceration.
The justice system should not unfairly focus on offences that are likely to be committed by boys and men thus forming a disproportionate percentage of prisoners.
What we have is a crisis in relationships among men and women of all classes, especially among poor people.
The catastrophic state is as a result of cultural trends and ideas about the family that are originating outside the continent of Africa.
Given the nature of this conversation, let me plainly state my position on the issue of gender-based violence. I hold that women must be protected from physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse. They must be liberated from all forms of oppression, and they must be empowered to take charge of their own lives. The Bible teaches equality of sexes. Both male and female were created God like; created in the image of God.
There is, therefore, no superiority or inferiority of sexes. Instead, there is complementarity of sexes. I am also cognisant of the fact that equality of sexes is not the same as identity of sexes.
So there is no need to argue whether the women are inferior or superior to men; they are simply different.
Furthermore, the headship of man that the Bible teaches in marriage is designed to create a context within which a woman would be free to develop the fullness of her femininity. It is the headship of care rather than of control.
Gender-based violence is the act of inflicting physical, sexual, or psychological harm on a woman or girl because of their gender.
In most cultures, traditional beliefs, norms and social institutions legitimise and, therefore, perpetuate violence against women.
Forced pregnancy, sexual slavery, and traditional practices harmful to women such as honour killings, burning or acid throwing, female genital mutilation, dowry-related violence, violence in armed conflict, such as murder and rape; and emotional abuse, such as coercion and abusive language.
Trafficking of women and girls for prostitution, forced marriage, sexual harassment and intimidation at work are additional examples of violence against women.
Gender-based violence presupposes that a certain form of violence is based on one’s masculinity or femininity; or one’s sexual category.
Indeed there has been a lot of male and female hostility. Nevertheless, it is not accurate to characterise every form of violence between male and female as gender-based. The question is do women have the propensity to cause havoc on unsuspecting men? Violence is not exclusively a man’s problem, it is a human problem.
The Bible states that, “All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.
Just as much as male and female are equal bearers of the divine image so are both equal bearers of the inherited sinfulness.
The cruelty and murder of defenceless babies by mothers who throw innocent babies in pit latrines attests to the fact that women are violent too.
How do you explain property grabbing, the violence and cruelty displayed by women against fellow women in Zambia after the loss of a relative?
As if confirming my point of view, two days before the celebration of Women’s Rights Day, Muvi TV reported that Mary Mulenga of Ndola stabbed her husband to death with a knife, after a quarrel.
Later, ZNBC also reported that a soldier at Chindwini Barracks strangled his wife and the man is on the run. This is a sad development given that the war of sexes is escalating out of proportion.
It is with this in mind that society must be cautious on how they handle the issue of gender-based violence. Affirmative action can easily result in reverse oppression if not handled wisely.
The call for strong punitive process and stiffer penalties for the offenders may backfire if not handled properly.
When society tries to solve problems by harsh laws, they will eventually end up with bigger prison population of a segment of its people.
The solution to GBV lies in nurturing a new generation of young boys and girls who have respect for each other as equal partners in life.
Values of respect for each other must be imparted to them.
There must be a paradigm shift in the way societies perceive women.
The basic context within which this can be achieved is a family. The call to strengthen families is a valid one. Children who are brought up in broken homes or in single parent homes become troublesome in most cases.
When family life becomes problematic, you are threatened at the very foundation of the quality of life. You may wonder why people from pathological families are troublesome and without peace.
The most unfortunate situation is that gangs are taking over the role of a family; gangs are instilling street values in our kids.
As a result, we have gang crimes on the increase. As a result we have cases of gang crimes. For example, eight thugs gang-raped a 23-year-old Chawama woman in the presence of her husband on the eve of the International Women’s Day in Lusaka in 2013.
They broke into the couple’s home at midnight. This same period, a gang-rape was reported in India, a 23-year-old Indian student died after being raped by four men on a bus in Delhi.
This is a war of sexes in which thugs are using sex as a weapon of choice against unsuspecting women and children. They are displaying the most assassinate qualities the world has ever known. This must be stopped.
The goal in this effort is to prevent GBV from happening. This cannot be achieved by speedy trials and stiffer penalties alone. You can’t just think of legal instruments to fight GBV.
There are other social aspects of fighting gender-based violence.
People have focused so much on the legal instruments as the basis of fighting GBV. It is important to understand that you can have the best laws on paper but you may not achieve the objective you want because there is more to the law than that is in the book. For example, Mafinga MMD Member of Parliament Catherine Namugala, while speaking in Parliament wondered what “has made men become beasts and monsters in terms of gender-based violence. She brought out the fact that “there is sufficient legislation to deal with issues of gender-based violence, but cases are on the increase.
So the question to ask is that why is it that people are being sentenced to 20 years, in some cases, 15 years imprisonment, but it’s not working as a deterrent?” (The Post, July 11, 2012).
The law can only take effect when the people appreciate it otherwise it will just be a law on paper with no consequence on the problem. Someone rightly noted that, “Laws are not stronger than their enforcers.” If the enforcers choose not to enforce the laws then the said laws have no power.
That is why fairness does not rest in laws but in the activity, attitude and consciousness of people. Retributive laws against men will not improve the relationship between men and women, but instead will increase hostility and worsen the situation.
There are other social services, such as family therapy professionals that can be used to fight gender-based violence.
When society tries to solve problems by harsh laws, they will eventually end up with a bigger prison population of a segment of its people. Zambia’s situation is not unique. We can draw lessons from countries like the United States of America.
A phenomenon that has been framed by the slave experience in America can inform our situation today. There are similarities between the African American slave experience and the African experience on the continent pertaining to men and women relationships.
For more than 40 years ago, African American women have been running the home in America.
Most African American men in America are either in prison or have been to prison thus the emergence of a strong independent woman, who needs no man as long as she is rich and can do whatever she wants, and coupled with the runaway father that left a woman to run the home, has led to crumbled down homes. For example, there are 70 per cent single households among blacks and 70 per cent of black children are born out of wedlock.
African-Americans are the minority in America but they make up 40 per cent of the prison population.
This has contributed immensely to an increase in single parent households, a situation that is not conducive for raising up children.
In most cases, children who are brought up in broken homes or in single parent homes are likely to become troublesome.
Society ends up having children on drugs and parents who don’t care, gangs on the loose, violence on our streets and in homes.
The principle is simple, destroy a home you destroy a nation. During slavery “Any group that was potentially cohesive because of family, kinship, or tribal connections was deliberately divided or tightly controlled to prevent rebellion” (Robert and Wayne 1969, 13, 14).
It is, therefore, important to understand that, “The means is as important as the message.” We must carefully select the method of achieving the desired end.
In one street demonstration against GBV, women carried a placard which read, “If I am and if I walk nude on the road, then also you don’t have any right to rape me.”
Men and women have a responsibility to ensure that proper methods of fighting the scourge of GBV are used and must be consistent with the laws of the land.
Also, gender rights must be seen within the cultural context of our people.
Transplanting models from the western worlds without reflection and planting them in the heart of Africa does not work too well.
For instance, if men go to the pool without shirts on, then women come with breasts showing, claiming their gender rights is unacceptable. That’s not what gender rights are about.
We must guard against all exaggerations. Cultural transposition is a dangerous and destructive thing. Now, let us examine the extent to which feminism has contributed to the escalation of male and female hostility.
Feminism has become a significant component of western culture. It is a movement whose goal is to emancipate women. It is a “women’s Liberation” movement. It directs its efforts in achieving equality for women in modern society, especially through the removal of obstacles such as beliefs, values, attitudes – the said laws have no power. That is why fairness does not rest in laws but in the activity, attitude and consciousness of people.
Retributive laws against men will not improve the relationship between men and women, but instead will increase hostility and worsen the situation.
There are other social services, such as family therapy professionals that can be used to fight gender based violence.
(This was a submission by Rt. Rev. Dr. Paul Bupe, Bishop of the Redeemed Methodist Church Zambia, Rwanda and Congo jurisdiction, Cell: 0964621995)