Moses Magadza
An influential traditional leader is rallying other traditional leaders across the African continent behind ongoing efforts to eradicate child marriage.
His Royal Highness Chief Chamuka VI, Dr. Morgan Kumwenda, is a gender equality activist and traditional leader of the Lenje ethnic group in Zambia.
He was a special guest at a side event co-hosted in Livingstone, Zambia by the Parliament of the Republic of Zambia, SRHR Africa Trust (SAT) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) during the 56th Plenary Assembly of the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) in December last year.
The speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia, Nelly Butete Kashumba Mutti, initiated the side event focusing on the participation of women in political leadership including cabinet ministers, Speakers, and Members of Parliament.
The aim was to reduce barriers in political spheres and create a supportive framework for all women in politics.
The event touched, also, on the need to eradicate child marriage.
In an impassioned address, Chief Chamuka VI highlighted the role of traditional leaders in eradicating child marriage.
He noted that the role of traditional leaders had evolved, and some people no longer perceived them as “barriers to development” but as advocates for progressive cultural transformation.
“The traditional leaders of yesterday are not the same as those of today,” he told his audience which included SADC PF Secretary General Boemo Sekgoma and Zambia’s Minister of Justice, Hon Princess Kasune.
The Chief added, “We have embarked on a robust cultural transformation to align ourselves with global developments.”
He reminisced about his participation in a high-level gathering in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where traditional and religious leaders recently convened to contribute to the African Union’s draft Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls.
The convention, set for adoption by African heads of state in February 2025, aims to create a binding framework to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
“Traditional leaders are championing a social movement to bring about change under the Council of Traditional Leaders in Africa in collaboration with the African Union. The convenor is Senior Chief Madzimawe of the Ngoni people of the Eastern Province of Zambia,” he said.
Chief Chamuka VI hailed Zambia’s legislative advancements, including the Children’s Code Act of 2022 and the amendment of the Marriage Act in 2023, which criminalises child marriage and sets the minimum marriage age at 18.
He further revealed that his chiefdom had proactively raised the recommended marriage age to 21, harmonising traditional by-laws with statutory laws to better protect young people.
“Our efforts include the establishment of village-led one-stop Gender-Based Violence (GBV) centres,” he explained.
He said the centres offer psychosocial counselling, basic legal services, policing, and a referral system for affected individuals. Over 30 paralegals had been trained and were providing community support, ensuring that victims received timely and effective assistance.
Chief Chamuka VI also highlighted the creation of a GBV Fund, supported by voluntary contributions from village members, Plan International Zambia and National Legal Aid to finance awareness campaigns and provide incentives for volunteers at the one-stop centres.
On cultural practices, he noted that traditional initiation ceremonies, once platforms for preparing young girls for marriage, had been reformed in his chiefdom.
“We have refined the curriculum to ensure that these ceremonies are age-appropriate and focus on life skills rather than early marriage,” he stated.
Chief Chamuka VI appealed to national governments to prioritise harmonising traditional and statutory laws across Africa, citing Zambia’s 73 ethnic groups and their diverse customs as an example of the need for unified regulations.
As a Plan International advocate on Ending Child Marriage and Teen Pregnancy in the Middle East, Eastern, and Southern Africa (MEESA), Chief Chamuka VI reaffirmed his commitment to ending child marriage and GBV.
He called for collective efforts among traditional leaders, governments, and civil society to build a future where all children can thrive.
He called for unity in eradicating child marriage, GBV, and anything that is not in the best interest of the child.
Speaking at the same occasion, Jonathan Gunthorp, Executive Director of SAT, exhorted SADC MPs to work closely with young people in ending child marriage.
He said democracy “is fragile” and would not flourish without the active involvement and support of young people.
“The young do not remember the struggles to establish and then grow democracy. They see only its current delivery or failure of delivery. In Africa, most young people still support democracy, but over 50% say they are willing to see military rule or other forms of authoritarian government if it delivers better lives for them,” Gunthorp stated.
He added, “If we cannot increase the support of young people for our parliaments and our work, then democracy will have a short life on our continent. And it will be difficult to increase their support if they cannot see themselves among us.”
On gender parity, Gunthorp called for relentlessness.
He said, “The fight for gender equality in our parliaments, mirrors the fight for gender equality in our countries. Women played pivotal roles in our liberation movements and yet, some six decades after our liberation began, the UN estimates it will take some 300 years to achieve parity. We must be relentless in our struggle for this parity, we must be vigilant in the face of global forces that are anti-gender equality, anti-women’s rights, anti-women’s sexual and reproductive rights, and, in fact, anti-women and -girls.”
The SADC PF and its partners developed the Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage.
The 39th Plenary Assembly of SADC PF adopted the model law on June 3, 2016, in Eswatini, to widespread acclaim.
Equality Now and the SADC PF are now collaborating on a campaign to advocate for the accelerated domestication and implementation of the model law – the first-ever regional law on child marriage.
-Moses Magadza is the Media and Communications Manager at the SADC PF.
