Violation And Abuse Of Women’s Human Rights In The Customary Practice Of ‘Kuzvarira’ Among The Ndau People Of Mozambique

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the customary marriage practice of kuzvarira among the Ndau

people of Mozambique. It investigates the perception of the Ndau people towards the

customary practice of kuzvarira. Kuzvarira is a traditional customary practice of marrying

off, without her consent, an underage girl (sometimes as young as eight or even before

birth) to a rich man who already has another wife or wives in exchange for money, food

and other material possessions that guarantee the girl’s family not to suffer acute

economic deprivation ever again (Financial Gazette, 2/12/2004). To establish the

receptivity of the traditional African marriage custom, kuzvarira, a study was conducted.

Forty people (24 females and 16 males) from Manica and Sofala provinces participated in

the study. Ad questionnaire comprising closed and open items was used as a data

collection tool. The collected data was summarized by means of frequency tables and

analyzed qualitatively using evaluative descriptions. The paper makes a critique of the

practice of kuzvarira due to the prominence the subject has assumed in African

philosophical discourses on human rights in recent years. Among the Ndau this is

particularly so, because despite some mounting intellectual controversy over the practice,

it continues unabated owing to a range of economic deprivation and aggravating social

circumstances. Our philosophical argument as substantiated by the results obtained is that

kuzvarira is a psychological ‘death sentence’ meted on defenseless minors and is a gross