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Economic exodus fuels GBV

Malawians searching for better economic conditions outside the country are determined to improve their living standards, but this leaves a bitter aftertaste among some women left behind.

A woman disguised as Mafunase to protect her family personifies the plight of many married women left alone in Mzimba, a major exporter of casual workers to South Africa.

She says the long search for greener pasture beyond the borders deprives women of their conjugal rights and happiness as well as financial support.

“Some men spend years in South Africa without communication with their families. They don’t even return home to see their families, let alone sending them money for daily needs,” says Mafunase.

The 40-year-old woman and her three sons live hand-to-mouth having gone seven years without receiving any support from her husband, who migrated to South Africa.

The family also struggles to pay rentals and schools fees. The first-born has a physical disability. He uses a wheelchair and requires constant care.

“I don’t work because I always have to be close to him,” says Mafunase, who lost her cross-border business due to lack of time and capital.

Her family cannot afford three meals a day.

“If my husband was supportive, I would not have stopped making business trips to the neighbouring Zambia. But now I live hand-to-mouth because the business collapsed,” she laments.

Mafunase used to sell groceries on wholesale to shop owners in Mzimba town.

Her husband abandoned her, with no one to take care of her sexual needs. In fact, she envies her peers whose husbands often pop in between November and December, a festive season that forces lonely hearts that find sexual solace outside wedlock to either insist on using contraceptives or seek backstreet abortions that kill up to 18 women in every 100 pregnancy related deaths.

A 17-year-old girl concealed as Ethel says she was forced into marriage at 15 due to lack of support from her father who migrated to South Africa.

“My father left my mother, my siblings five years ago and he doesn’t send any help to us,” she narrates. “This forced me to marry young. I hoped my husband would support me, but he wasn’t supportive either.”

Ethel surrendered marriage and went back to her mother who is just a housewife.

Ethel has returned to school after fleeing hunger, worsening poverty and persistent violent attacks at the hands of her childhood sweetheart.

She narrates: “My mother took care of my baby while I concentrated on school.

“I didn’t do well in the Malawi School Certificate of Education examinations last year, so I want to re-sit the exams this year.”

Mafunase and Ethel personify the agony of Malawian women whose husbands escaped to South Africa in search of pastures new.

In 2021, Mzimba social welfare office registered 327 cases of emotional abuse and 478 of child neglect, mostly occurring in families of migrant workers.

Activist Lexah Harrison describes the migrants’ failure to support their families back home as a cruel form of gender-based violence.

“It is a pity that some of them just come to impregnate women and return to South Africa without providing any family support,” says the campaigner based in Mzimba.

Harrison represents women interests at M’Mbelwa District Council.

She says the exodus of Malawian workers to South Africa does not only deny women everyday support and conjugal support but also freedom of movements.

“Most women, who are left behind, are tracked by their in-laws day and night. Their husbands’ relatives think if the woman goes out, she will have extra-marital sex,” she says.

Harrison revealed that most of 72 children at a community based childcare centre in Daniel Gausi village “do not know their fathers who might have migrated to South Africa before the children were born”.

Section 3 (a) of the Child Care and Protection Act states that children are entitled to be protected from abuse, neglect and harm.

Mzimba gender officer Naomi Mwale Thamala calls for bylaws to safeguard women and children from the common tragedy.

“Migrant workers who leave their families behind deliberately stop sending support to their families, making them live miserably,” she states

Mzimba is one of six districts implementing the Spotlight Initiative funded by the European Union in partnership with government, the UN and civil society. The global initiative aims to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful practices, in line with Sustainable Development Goal five—ensuring gender equality and empowerment for all.

Inkosi Ya Makosi M’mbelwa urged against the “common but silent form of GBV” perpetrated by men who go to South Africa for good, leaving their wives and children to suffer.

The Ngoni paramount chief encourages women to reject being married to such men or go with them to South Africa.

He states: “There is a tendency here in Mzimba of men marrying and leaving wives to stay with the husband’s parents. This isn’t on. It’s GBV.

One does not marry to stay with a spouse’s parents. Men need to support their families. If they don’t, it is a violation of human rights.”

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