Ngabwe council fights GBV through soccer

By NATION REPORTER THE fight against gender based violence (GBV) and early marriages has taken a positive turn in Ngabwe where soccer tournaments have been introduced to help curb the vices.

District council chairperson Sithabiso Mizinga told the Daily Nation in an interview that the local authority was concerned with the escalating levels of GBV and early marriages in the area.

She said a task force formed to tackle the problem of GBV had established that the introduction of soccer tournaments was the best way to sensitise youths about the negative effects of the vice.

“We formed a task force on GBV and realised that the best way to attract the youth to come for meetings on GBV two or three times a week was through football,” said Ms Mizinga.

She said youths belonging to various soccer teams formed in the district had since the start of the tournaments, been sensitised about the dangers of GBV and child marriages before training in different soccer camps across the district.

Ms Mizinga said cases of assault among couples, defilements and child marriages were the order of the day especially among the youth in the district, and hoped that through sensitisation done during tournaments, the trend would be reversed.

She said women in the district were committed to ending GBV and early marriages and that they had pledged to end the vice by 2020 and ensure that every child went back to school.

She said the women also wanted the Ministry of General Education to open a General Certificate of Education (GCE) centre in the district to enable them continue with their education.

The football tournament was held on Tuesday during the district agricultural show and was supported by Lunsemfwa Hydro, Farmers Union and City Land, among others.

The winning team walked away with K1,500.