MEN WANT LOBOLA ABOLISHED

By Lumbiwe Mwanza

ZAMBIA should abolish the payment of bride price commonly known as Lobola as the practice is contributing to the escalation of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) the Zambia National Men’s Network for Gender and Development (ZNMNGD) has demanded.

Speaking to The Scoop ZNMNGD National Coordinator Nelson Banda said some parents were abusing the tradition by charging high prices which were leading to some men feeling exploited thereby having anger towards their wives.

Mr. Banda said the practice should not be underestimated to be one factor contributing to a rise in Gender-Based Violence.

“Husbands who paid huge sums in bride price feel they can own the woman and treat their wives as chattels and mere sex objects. We feel that families who are charging between K30, 000 and K50, 000 as bride price are commercializing, dehumanizing and objectifying their daughters, placing them in harm’s way of being victims of Gender Based Violence,” Mr. Banda explained.

He said that whilst the organization acknowledged that paying bride price was a tradition meant to celebrate the marriage rite, it was very sad that some families were using Lobola for financial capital by turning women into commodities for sale.

“Therefore, high bride prices have a negative effect on the stability of marriages apart from contributing to the rise in cases of GBV as well as early and child marriages. This is because men feel they own the woman after having made a huge dowry payment and the woman is tied down to staying in abusive marriages because parents or guardians cannot speak out if something goes wrong in the marriage,” he said.

He said that all practices that reduced women’s self-esteem and dis-empower them should be done away with as quickly as possible to create a more inclusive environment.

He further called on the Government to develop guidelines on bride price in the country as the practice was being commercialized thereby subjecting women and girls into endless GBV situations.