HARARE — The Zimbabwe Gender Commission has launched a 90-day national campaign against intimate partner violence amid concern over fatal domestic disputes and thousands of reported cases of sexual offences and aggravated domestic violence.
The campaign will run from October through December and culminate in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, commission chairperson Leslie Ncube said Friday.
Ncube said police recorded at least 13,838 cases of sexual offences and aggravated domestic violence across Zimbabwe in 2024, including cases that escalated to grievous bodily harm, murder and suicide.
“The Commission is deeply concerned by the increasing number of reported cases of fatal domestic disputes,” Ncube said. “These incidents underscore the urgent need for strengthened early intervention, prevention, and coordinated national response mechanisms to prevent domestic conflicts from escalating into violence and loss of life.”
The commission also cited the 2023-24 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey, which found that 27% of women aged 15 to 49 had experienced physical violence, while 9% had experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.
Ncube warned that reported cases may represent only part of the problem because some incidents remain hidden due to fear, stigma, economic dependence, shame, threats, social pressure and limited access to support services.
“Intimate partner violence cannot be dismissed as a private family matter,” Ncube said. “It is a human rights, gender equality, social and development concern that requires a coordinated national response.”
While women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of gender-based violence, Ncube said intimate partner violence also affects men and boys, whose experiences may go unreported because of stigma, shame, fear of ridicule and expectations surrounding masculinity.
The campaign will focus on public awareness, government and institutional engagement, involving men and boys in prevention, working with religious and traditional leaders to promote peaceful homes and encouraging workplaces to provide support for people affected by intimate partner violence.
It will bring together government, civil society, development partners, businesses, communities, the media and religious and traditional leaders.
The commission said the initiative was also intended to support Zimbabwe’s High-Level Political Compact to End Gender-Based Violence and Harmful Practices, whose roadmap targets the eradication of sexual violence, child marriage and intimate partner violence by 2030.
The roadmap also targets a 20% to 30% reduction in the overall national prevalence of gender-based and intimate partner violence by 2030, according to the commission.
Ncube said another objective was to shift financing for gender-based violence programmes away from what the commission described as a model that is 90% donor-funded toward increased domestic financing through gender-responsive budgeting.
The commission urged communities to report signs of domestic violence and called on men and boys to reject violence, employers to establish support and referral mechanisms and religious and traditional leaders to challenge harmful practices.
“A home should be a place of safety, dignity, love and respect not a place of fear,” Ncube said.
The commission said the campaign would seek to shift attention from responding to violence after it occurs toward prevention, identifying warning signs, healthy relationships, peaceful conflict resolution, survivor support and institutional accountability.
