ECONOMIC VIOLENCE AND ABUSE COMMON IN ZAMBIA

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The Zambia Police Services Victim Support Unit (VSU) has said economic violence and abuse is on the rise in most Zambian homes. Speaking in Lusaka, VSU National Coordinator, Senior Superintendent Kasale said it was disheartening to note that economic violence has become a common trend in most Zambian homes to settle domestic scores.
He said in most cases bread winners in Zambian homes, male or female, took advantage of their economic position to economically abuse their spouses, children and dependants.
Mr Kasale said bread winners deliberately stopped buying food and other human necessities such as clothing, medical care and education, among others in order to make their spouses fill unwanted resulting in them leaving their matrimonial homes.
The VSU National Coordinator said this on the sidelines of a five- day Gender Awareness workshop for service providers at Red Roof Lodge in Lusaka’s Roma Township this week. He said that such trends were commonly practiced in both high and low density urban areas.
He noted that such practices were also part of the issues that the VSU was handling on a daily basis as breadwinners attributed prevailing economic
situation in the country as the cause of them not supporting their spouses and families in general.
Mr. Kasale however advised breadwinners not use their economic situation as the reason for not supporting their families saying they should instead be transparent and honest to their spouses and families on their situation.
The workshop sponsored by the United Nations International Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) is aimed at empowering service providers with adequate information on Gender Based Violence (GBV) which is said to be on the increase in the country.
The workshop attracted service providers from nearly all corners of Zambia mainly attached to the VSU’s of police stations.
And during the workshop, some participants expressed concern at the law that prohibited housewives from physically reacting to their husbands’ girlfriends.
The participants said this development had actually empowered girlfriends to
have undue control of most men thereby creating domestic instability in most
homes.
However, Mr. Kasale advised the participants that the affected housewives should take advantage of the law of Adultery which he said was as punitive as
any other law.