24/09/2026
Thirteen lives lost in just three months is a stark, devastating reality that cannot be brushed aside as isolated domestic incidents; it is a national crisis of gender-based violence and femicide. Let us unite and stand together to end GBV.
As Shamwari Yemwanasikana Organization, Friend of the Girl Child, we are raising an alarm over a growing femicide crisis in Zimbabwe. In just three months, from June to September 2026, we have documented at least thirteen women and children killed in domestic and intimate partner related incidents across Chikanga, Nkulumane, Southlea Park, Shamva, Hatfield, Darwendale, Glen View and even affecting a Zimbabwean family in the diaspora. The victims include a pregnant woman, a serving officer, mothers, and innocent children as young as seven months old.
These are no longer domestic disputes, they are acts of femicide that show how minor disagreements are turning into brutal murders. Our greatest concern now is child protection. The children who have survived these tragedies still want to continue with life, to go to school, to play and to heal, but they are left traumatized after witnessing the killing of their mothers and are now exposed to secondary abuse, neglect and stigma.
We therefore urgently call upon the Zimbabwe Gender Commission to exercise its constitutional mandate and push this crisis to higher offices, including the Office of the President, Parliament and relevant Ministries, so that intimate partner killings are treated as a national emergency. We also call upon the of social welfare
Department of Social Welfare, the Victim Friendly Unit and all child protection actors to ensure immediate psychosocial support and safe long-term care for the children left behind.
Every girl child deserves a home that is safe. We will not continue counting bodies while children suffer twice.
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