THE Johane Masowe sect has committed itself to ending early child marriages among its members, amid rising cases of young girls being married off in the country.
This comes after a 14-year-old girl, Memory Machaya, died last year while giving birth at a church shrine — triggering much outrage.
Since then, both the government and non-state actors have been using various fora to campaign against the practice.
Speaking to the Daily News on the sidelines of a recent women’s gathering, Johane Masowe leader Enock Senda said his church was determined to end the marrying off of young girls, as well as violence against women.
He also conceded that child marriages had become a cancer within indigenous churches.
“In our churches we have made mistakes, but we would like to thank the government for being a pillar of alignment for our churches.
“They have made us understand the impact of early child marriages and so we are working hard to curb them,” Senda said on the sidelines of the Council for Churches in Africa (CCA) Women’s Fellowship launch.
“You will realise that early child marriages have been a menace in our indigenous churches.
“There have been several reports about young girls being married off early, at the age of 12 or 13 years in our churches.
“Those are some of the things that we are trying to rectify,” Senda further told the Daily News.
Meanwhile, CCA president Rocky Moyo has urged all churches to work hard to end the abuse of girl children.
“I have realised that many girls in churches are abused by being married off early.
“The most painful thing is that pastors and prophets are abusing girls and women in churches. I am imploring the church to stand up and say ‘no’ to early child marriages.
“I also want to tell pastors abusing the girls to stop it. We have heard so much about the abuse girls are going through.
“The church is very dirty and the leaders especially need to clean themselves,” Moyo said at the launch.
Minister of state for Bulawayo province, Judith Ncube, urged parents to protect girls from early marriages.
“It is not good for parents to expect to be driven out of poverty from money that we get out of marrying off our young girls.
“We, as mothers, have a duty to protect our girl children from early child marriages.
“Children are a blessing from God, whether girl or boy. So, we have to do all it takes to protect them,” Ncube said.
Social commentator, Ashel Muchuchu popularly known as Boss Lashaan said child marriage threatens the lives, well-being and futures of girls around the world and should be stopped
“Child marriage robs girls of their childhood and threatens their lives and health. Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence and less likely to remain in school,” said Lashaan who commands a large following on social media platforms.
