Members of Parliament from SADC attending a Joint Session of Standing Committees of the SADC PF in Johannesburg line up to congratulate Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda (Photo: Moses Magadza) |26 May 2023
Members of Parliament from SADC attending a Joint Session of Standing Committees of the SADC PF in Johannesburg line up to congratulate Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda (Photo: Moses Magadza)
Members of Parliament from SADC attending a Joint Session of Standing Committees of the SADC PF in Johannesburg line up to congratulate Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda (Photo: Moses Magadza)
The SADC Parliamentary Forum has paid glowing tribute to Dr Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, the outgoing African Union Goodwill Ambassador on Ending Child Marriages.
Secretary general of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, Boemo Sekgoma, seized an opportunity presented by a Joint Session of Standing Committees of the SADC Forum in Johannesburg on March 10, 2023 to salute Gumbonzvanda for her unwavering commitment towards ending child marriages.
Sekgoma said Gumbonzvanda, a citizen of Zimbabwe, had done “momentous work” during her “eminent mandate”.
“Thanks to her consistent and assiduous efforts, significant progress has been made in ending child marriages in Africa over the past years,” said Sekgoma.
She said Gumbonzvanda had interacted abundantly with Standing Committees under the auspices of the SADC-PF and contributed to having Parliaments integrate the theme of ending child marriages into their work plans.
The secretary general said Gumbonzvanda had engaged SADC-PF representatives on the Model Law on Ending Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage and promoted its domestication at national level.
“She was behind a number of legislative and oversight initiatives in which parliamentarians, religious and traditional leaders were all motivated to ban civil or religious marriage of individuals below 18 years, as well as stop harmful practices such a child betrothal,” the SG said of Gumbonzvanda, who was in the room but had not been warned of the impending honour.
“She has stoically taken up the mantle in championing inter-generational women’s leadership and rights, including the fight against early child marriage,” Sekgoma added and highlighted that under Gumbonzvanda’s watchful eye, thousands of girls had been saved from child marriages and other related human rights violations.
“It is thus with a sense of accomplished work that we pay tribute to the departure of (Dr) Nyaradzayi in her role as AU Ambassador,” she said.
She added: “She has set the bar very high and has activated a dynamic momentum for us to continue the fight to end child marriages in Southern Africa and beyond,” said Sekgoma as she thanked the activist for her contributions to the region and for assisting the Forum in pursuit of its goal of ending child marriages.
Sekgoma said the name “Nyaradzayi” must have been divinely ordained as the Ambassador had been a source of comfort for the millions of women and girls whose cause she relentlessly fought for over the past two decades.
On her part, a tearful Gumbonzvanda also commended the SADC PF and its partners for the unwavering commitment to ending child marriage, which she said was a “very personal” issue for her.
Shuffling painfully on crutches after she was involved in a car accident, Gumbonzvanda said: “You made me cry. Thank you for the recognition, the honour and for the support of my mandate.”
She said she got significant support from “SADC member States, stakeholders and partners” as she served the African continent as the African Union Goodwill Ambassador for eight and a half years.
Fighting back more tears, Gumbonzvanda told the SADC region’s parliamentarians: “This (child marriage) is very personal because my mother did not choose my father. She was barely 13 years old (when she was forced into marriage). At times I ask if I am a product of love or a product of biology.”
She said she drew solace in knowing that she was “the 14th pregnancy of my mother”.
She added in a near whisper: “By the time she conceived me, maybe she had fallen in love and had finally enjoyed sex with my father. But I know that my brother – our first born – is a product of rape. My mother was raped at the age of 13 years.”
Gumbonzvanda said she knew firsthand what it means to be born to a young mother.
“I also know what it meant for my mother to lose so many pregnancies in between,” she said as her riveted audience quietly swallowed along.
Gumbonzvanda was in the room in Ezulwini, Eswatini when the Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC PF adopted the Model Law on Ending Child Marriages and Protecting Children Already in Marriage. She described the unanimous adoption of the Model Law as “precedent-setting”.
Last week she told the region’s lawmakers: “Almost a decade later, you are monitoring your own decisions. Congratulations!”
Moses Magadza
