Domestic violence cases double during lockdown

ZTN Correspondent

More than 10 000 people in Zimbabwe were emotionally abused in 2020 up from almost 3 000 in 2019, latest reports have shown.

Statistics show that 1 300 people experienced physical abuse in 2019 and the cases went up to 7 943 in 2020.

A total of 2 292 people suffered economic abuse in 2019, with the number going up to 7877 in 2020.

The increase has been attributed to enclosed environments occasioned by Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

According to data from Msasa Project, there was a 38 percent increase in reported cases of gender-based violence in 2020 compared to the previous year.

Cases of physical abuse went up by 43 percent, while cases of emotional abuse shot by 80.3 percent and cases of economic violence went up by 42 percent in the period under review.

Msasa Project Legal Officer Tinashe Chitunhu said; “We witnessed a surge in physical violence over limited income in the family. We also saw frustrations in terms of the social lifestyle a family was forced to live under.

“You will see an environment where a couple is enclosed in an environment (where) there are no opportunities to socialise outside.”

She added: “Survivors were trapped in the same environment with the perpetrator and there was no way for survivors to go and report or find other mechanisms to deal with it.”