by Gerald Nkisu Katayi
Is wife battering a criminal act in Zambia? This one question can be answered by different opinions across the nation. The diverseness in answering this question can be justified by different sources that inform Zambians. As it has been said, “who educates you controls you”.
One of our own law makers is allegedly to have battered his wife. He is not the first nor is he going to be the last man to lay his hands on his spouse. Zambian women are battered in marriages and even during courtship by their boy friends. But who says these acts are criminal?
Zambia is a country of ethnic diversity; this means Zambians can have the same question, yet give different answers and none of the answers will be wrong. Tradition, Religion and English Law are the main sources of information where decisions are derived from. Both of these institutions are alive and well; they are both entertained by the society and politicians yet in some cases they antagonize each other.[pullquote]Zambian women are battered in marriages and even during courtship by their boy friends[/pullquote]
In some Zambian traditions wife battering is part of showing love, in fact some women complain when violence is absent in their marriage; meaning they don’t feel loved. English Law (State) will interpret the same scenario as criminal and punishable offence, while the Church will say love is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, love has patience, love is kind, (1 Corinthians 13:5-7), avoiding any form of violent.
In one society we give recognition to traditional and civil marriages, we have traditional healers and medical doctors; we have local courts to deal with cultural matters, chiefs to rule over their tribes, culture to interpret the norms of a tribe. On the other hand we have the police to enforce the Law, criminal courts to determine the State Law and politicians to rule. In case of wife battering, when tradition says yes, the State will say no! In this case who is right and who is wrong?
Tradition sees hunting as a way of survival, the State calls it poaching and is a punishable offence, tradition in some places supports early marriages, the State brings in girl child education, witch battering is acceptable in some chiefdoms, the State says that is an assault, tradition has it that a woman should endure pain, even when ill she should cook for her husband, the state has women’s rights.
Polygamous marriages are allowed by some traditions, the Church and the State say no. Should the State then arrest the traditional follower who is polygamous? If a chief who is a follower and the keeper of tradition and culture beats up his wife, are the society and the Law going to demonize him? Or is it that some animals are more equal than others?
If a man is empowered by his tradition to batter his wife as away of showing love or solving family disputes, why should the Law come in? Is this then a divided society?
It is tantamount to persecution to try a Christian by sharia law which is Islamic. Why is it in order to try an ardent traditional follower in the courts of law for wife battering? Can this be seen as persecuting the traditionalist?
Both the Church, tradition and the State are institution that influences people’s decisions. Are these three institutions on the same standing? If not; when does tradition becomes inferior to the Law in the case of wife battering? These institutions must be harmonized like in Kenya where chiefdoms are abolished in order to create a more “united conscience society”. If the Law and traditions are allowed to operate without clear distinction, how is the society that is so diverse going to know if wife battering is an offence or not?
WOW!!! Pick and Pay in Zambia?
One fails to understand how Zambian women are “SO OVER SUBMISSIVE” to their husbands. They don’t realise that marriage is a partnership. I would never let a man lay a finger on me in the name of love..
Shame and so sooooory for Mrs GBM. HER STORY SUCKS!! I would rather get a quick divorce and get a big chunk from that much publicised mansion!!
Because of diversity we have come up with a common law, hence the police and the courts. Assault is an offence. We all come from our different chiefs but we have formed a government.
Marriage is between 2 pipo………it’s pointless discussing wife battery in a public domain……it wont solve anything. Why are you feeling sorry for GBMs wife when she is the one at his side holding his hand and giving him support at the magistrate court.
Sometimes wife battering is the juice that keeps the marriage going ,my shibukombe called it “akatemba ka chupo”.But despite all that ,it doesn`t mean it should be to an extent where one is injured or bruised.The whole essence about the whole thing is that a man must show dominion in a marriage set up ,typical of how our African society has been run from my forefathers generation.This thing has always been there,if you for example asked local chiefs how many cases they have had handled concerning the same, chances are that the number will be closer to zero.Indeed there is a thick line between customary law and the English law and which one an individual chooses to uphold is a matter of choice.
#chisenga ur a just a gold digger foolish woman,ur even rushing to say u will get quick divorce and get mansion…ur uselss woman thats why people like u will neva get married,will just be shagging u
#2 chisense useless comments go and get bumed,cos u neva get married
Chisense @1. Thats the reason why women like you parade you open legs to be shagged by anything on two legs in the name of arogancy & unsubmisiveness. The bible calls women to be submissive & men to be heads of homes but it does not mean men must take advaantage of you. It must be guided by love and oneness of body.Its a pity that if a woman herself is married to a man with low pay or no job-she is the first to treat him like a kid-women just need sympathy to go along with the world. people like chisense are those who even get shagged on facebook because they cannot afford to live with a man & treat him as a head of a home. They prejudise things before they are even there.A man beats a woman because of infidelity & disrespect. Outside of this, its just sympathyseeking from women.PEACE.
#8 ur rite man,chisense i think gets shagged on facebook,arogant women get bumed easily man,am toking from experience
i’m surprised that this matter is being taken very lightly by both
the author and everyone commenting. I did a desk study on
domestic violence as part of my masters and i was surprised to
learn how many lives are lost to this vice every year.
Zambia is no exception. every year you hear about a life lost
including pregnant women. Surely we should not be having this
debate. I value human life, The question is do you? I won’t even go
into the issue of every person having a right to live a dignified life
That would be too much for you to understand
Dre @10. Your thesis,tho made you pass-was prabably on good taste to the tutor. The root of the matter is people are different. The reason why a man needs a woman is not for shagging her or her marrying a man for getting satisfaction & bearing children. It is in part that but the fact that We were made to become one body not only in bed making dirty to each other but to complement & suplement one another. A woman must know how to treat her man in certain circumstances & so should the man. Thats the reason people talk of compatibility. This is a natural institution as much as it is a spiritual one much more the later. If the man is too unresponsive to the woman it becomes a problem & vice versa. Couples will never cease to fight(batter each other). solution is our women need t learn the art
people can someone update on maketo, mabenga’s daughter, i mean the results of the second postmortem. does anyone here know what’s happening? i will never beat my wife when i get married, i will try to talk things over.
…@11 and men must learn to respond to women in fairness & love. Who will ever stop women ranting on top of their voices even to people they claim to love? Is it that our old women who teach them are failing & are instead concentrating on teaching them more about sex fulfiliment? Something has been lost somewhere. Our old women teaching these newly married ladies r talking more about sex, which is just a natural phenomena & can be mastered by anyone even a 10yr old boy & girl. Their lecture offices have become erotica rooms than marital learning grounds. Most of them r not even married. The end product is what we see in our women-arogant,sexseekers-Some dont even want to do anything except run amock & moan in the beds for life-crazy!!!! PEACE
OK i like debates like this.It is normal to fight in the animal kingdom, which man is part of.But that shouldn’t give,you guys an excuse to be beating yal spouses to pulp mwanvela ba George bush ? Western education has brought its own definition of a model society.What was normal in Africa a century ago might be a serious crime today.
LT, the heading should read ‘Spouse Battering’. We know that there are wives who batter their husbands and sometimes even evict them from the house. GBM himself revealed that he has a spine injury caused by the battering he received from his wife.
What about the forming of a militia by MMD to commit genocide in Western Province Mr Katayi? how about another article on that topic Mr Katayi? Thank you in advance.
This is a good article,can a learned lawyer give an objective comment on this, not the crap about Pick-n-Pay being in Zambia. I think that where statutory law is in conflict with traditional law, statutory law prevails, in addition marriage begins with God, and so the bible is a fairly good text book on how a wife should be treated, in no circumstances should wife or husband battering be encouraged.
I don’t believe there are people here saying people should beat their women ‘panono”! Are you serious? Men who beat women are cowards, insecure and most of them have small willies. Domestic violence is a serious issue. And it will never end as long as you balloon heads on here think its ok. If you want to blame this on tradition why are you here typing away when you can be in the bush chasing game? Times change. And so should people!
Katele (#17),
Before the Bible there was marriage. After the bible there will be marriage. So, stop flavoring everything with this bible crap! Bible, for those of you who refuse to use your brains, is not a natural product. It is an anthology of village legends of a people called the Israelis. We have our own. The only difference is that we did not write them down.
chisense I think your are a bitch. Iam not supporting GBM but in our rich language bemba we say imiti iipalamine taibula kukwesana. GBM has been married for a long time maybe he took it too far and he rgrets it his wife has accepted. so what is your problem I think tawafundwa chisense and you think marriage is what you see on TV or in holywood, bitch if you are not married i pray you mary a real wife batterer
# 15, Spouse battering is different from wife battering and the issue in the article is wife battering. Please read in -between-the-lines. How did you pass special paper 1?
We people with more than one wife in Zambia, in fact one Chisamba man has 100 wife or was if 50? the issue was every where in the press. The police visited him, but was never prosecuted to this day. I believe not because of corruption (in this case) but because of issues raised in this article. How do we move forward as a united nation in ideology?
Our politician and Zambian in general support tradition. We see politicians attending every cultural ceremony and giving their thumbs up. In their speeches, they promise the government support for these traditions. But some, and I say some of these tradition contravenes the rule of law. How do we point a finger on those who want to practice their tradition? Am not saying wife battering is normal, but debating the matter at hand. WHEN is the Law supreme over tradition in matters of wife battering. Bloggers please help!
Wow! I believe this is a public domain, let Chisense also have her voice heard. It is part of those freedoms given to citizens.
The house of chiefs who are responsible for customary law must look into matter like the one raised here. As a growing country, we have a lot of anomalies that need to be addressed. The chiefs then must not just sit for allowances, but should harmonize these different beliefs and traditions. When that is done, let their findings be handed to parliament to enact such into law. This way, tradition will not be in conflict with the law.
Oh! How Bembas have tumbled. Stories of your demise were not greatly exaggerated. From stealing, humping chickens and Goats to murdering people worldwide( drugs ). You people have become scourge of our nation, add wife battering to that and you want to defend it like it’s part of the norm. No! Women take arms no one even Biblically is allowed to batter you. It says a man shall live his mother and fathers house and find a woman. Then they shall become one, so if your spouce errs punch yourself.
Shame! on you who support this habit of wife battering, because it is a dangerous. In my Luvale culture a man is not allowed to beat his wife no matter how angry you are, and that has kept our marrieges for life. A Luvale is taught on how to handle a woman’s emotions from childhood. I just want to express my disappointment on Bembas who show their love through wife battering and many of such cases have been connected to them of late. 2 years ago women in Lusaka were protesting over a woman who was bruised by a husband, and this is Bemba, Ray Mwape beats his wife (one of the Shatel girls) in the name of love still Bemba man, Mr Musonda a police man almost killed his wife, GBM Mwamba and now the killer Mwansa Chitika who murdered Mabenga’s daughter, all these Bembas and the list goes…
I love my daughters so much and as such I cannot give birth for someone to kill in cold blood, if you have a problem with your wife exhaust all the channels of communication in the family to reach a compromise. These Bemba men are not mature on how to manage girl friends. When a Bemba man finds a girl friend they lose respect for their wives to an extent of treating her like a dust bin. This is the worste tribe in zambia on handling disputes, they are not mature in managing domestic affairs, as they are unable to deferentiate between wife and girl friend. They are not able to tell a girl friend to respect their wives, shame on this tribe. You need to change your ways of doing things.
# 25 Kanguya. Well, what about “Kambanda kaulu” among the Luvales- If I got the spelling right. On the other hand you have a number of names to support your argument. In most cases the Bemba men are over taken by Lozi women. The town Lozi men will never marry a Lozi lady, so the Lozi women are going for Bemba men. Now marrying a Lozi women, if you are not Lozi is a curse to say the least. That is not to say I support wife battering!
Bemba guys, remember that you are dealing with your fellow adult and the best is to negotiate and not to force. She has her own rights the same as you have yours, so give her the respect she deserves as she is a partner. Bemba guys, you are bringing shame to our country as if it is a nation of wife batterers. You do it to satisfy your ego, but it is a shameful thing to say the least. One of my sisters married a Bemba guy who was so abusive to an extent where we had to withdraw the marriage before losing her. After 5 years of marriage the man found a girl friend hence our sister became a dustbin. I urge all zambian to be careful with these Bemba men as bad behaviour is part of them be it thieving, lies, wife battering, swindling, abusive language, etc.
Thats why Lozis never want to give their daughters to these Bembas, look at wht happened to Mabenga’s daughter killed in cold blood. How can a man kill a woman he loves, this is really failure to handle anger, hence this man does not deserve respect from anyone.
#27 just accept that Bembas are wife batterers and killers in some cases. Accept the reality on the ground for your society get better. These things have been happening, still happening because people like #27 still deny them. We need a better zambia and not a society where women’s lives are at threat.
all bembers are stupid
deleted after 5 complaints
#21,
First of all don’t conclude that because you attended schools where you had ‘special paper 1’ everyone else went to such schools or received education in Zambia. It seems at your schools you graduated without knowing that the plural of wife is wives and you have no clue what ‘reading between lines’ means. Well, your ‘special paper 1’ doesn’t seem special after all.
Until Zambian women realize that it is wrong to be battered. This is a lost cause.
Distant Drums #33. I pointed out to you that “wife battering” and “spouse battering” are not the same thing as you suppose. So your suggestion to change the headline was misplaced. Are you not humble enough to be corrected?
If you never did special paper one then the results are clear, this is why you can’t excise critical thinking even on a document like this one. Child abuse is not the same as child trafficking, the left is different from right? is that simple? My father is Imbwanga, if you try to swim me like a river you will be drowned.
Your “distant drums” are just noisy, let the real music play…
PF cadres are immune from the law. In fact, if they break the law, change it!
I brought a woman over from Zambia to come and loin me here in the UK but she is so jealous that life has been hell. Everytime a woman phones me she would be rude to them or wait till am sleeping and hit of with the heaviest thing she can find. Its not just men . . . Women do it as well’