‘Little strides in child abuse fight in MZ’
Child protection coordinator at M’mbelwa District Council Humphreys Mwalughali has said Mzimba is making little strides in the fight to eliminate child abuse as the cases are on the rise.
He said this on Friday at Eswazini Trading Centre during the commemoration of the 2019 Day of an African Child under the theme Humanitarian Actions in Africa: Children’s Rights First.
He said: “Our 2018 Child Protection Management Report for Mzimba South alone shows that we registered about 1 680 cases of child abuse, a figure which is alarming. As a district, we are not winning the battle against child abuse as a day cannot pass without registering a case of child marriage or defilement.”
In his remarks, Inkosi Kampingo Sibande dared fellow chiefs in Mzimba to rise up and join forces in fighting child abuse in the district.
“Child abuse cases occur in our communities. It is us parents who withdraw our children from school and send them to marriages. We need to take appropriate actions to stop this,” he said.
Representing fellow children at the event, Evidence Moyo, a Standard Eight learner at Kapolo Primary School in the area of Inkosi Kampingo Sibande, challenged all stakeholders, including parents and chiefs to fight cultural beliefs and poverty that are promoting child abuse in Mzimba. “We say no to early marriages, sexual, physical and emotional abuse and child exploitation. We want to see children enjoying their rights freely without violations in the communities,” she said.
