Mon, 28 Aug 2017 10:02:06 +0000
By Annie Zulu
ZAMBIA National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL) chairperson Beauty Katebe has advised parents to use appropriate methods when disciplining children.
Reacting to a story of a 29-year-old woman of Lusaka’s Old Kanyama Compound who burnt her 12-year-old daughter with kerosene for allegedly stealing K40 from her, Ms Katebe described the incident as criminal.
She said that it was horrendously barbaric for the woman to set on fire her own daughter even if she did steal the money.
She has called for justice to prevail regardless of the relationship between the victim and the suspect.
“If she is found guilty, then she must be jailed. It doesn’t matter whether she is the mother to the child, what she did is totally unacceptable and barbaric. Even if the child stole that money, she shouldn’t have gone to that extent.
“Such a person does not deserve to live with people in society, jail is a place for such people, because if she can do that to her own child, what about other children and people who are not related to her? This shows that she can do worse than that,” Ms Katebe said.
Ms Katebe advised women to use appropriate methods when disciplining children.
“Torturing a child is not the solution, it does not change the child nor bring about appropriate behaviour. There are correct methods of disciplining a child, you don’t have to be brutal or use an object. You can correct a child, just by talking to them and they will listen,” Ms Katebe said.
And Media Network on Children’s Rights and Development director Henry Kabwe called on the government and stakeholders to scale up their efforts in ensuring child protection in Zambia.
Mr Kabwe said the growing trend of children being abused and tortured was worrying and needed to be addressed urgently.
“The increasing number of cases of children being abused and tortured especially by people close to them should be a wake-up call to us as a country, the fact that these incidents have continued to occur shows that we have not done enough,” Mr Kabwe said.
