LIVINGSTONE district records less gender based violence related cases in the cold season as opposed to summer, says Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC) district coordinator Christine Mutema.
She said there is likely to be an increase in the number of such cases now that the cold has ended.
Ms Mutema who is also Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) district para-legal officer said a recent survey conducted here recently revealed that the reduction in the number of cases during the cold season is due to the intimacy that is usually triggered as a result of the cold weather.
She said in July this, her office received a total of 15 gender based violence related cases compared to three that were recorded in June.
"A survey that we conducted here recently revealed that, starting from April to July month end, we record few cases. The people we interviewed said during this cold season, couples reconcile, they don’t fight. We only have a rise in the cases anytime after the cold season. We even anticipate a rise starting from August up to March next year," she said.
Ms Mutema said the men interviewed during the survey said due to the heat, they spent most of their time out and only return to their homes at night or in the early hours thereby causing the fights and quarrels.
"For June, we only had three cases, one of wife battering and two for child support but July we had a lot of them," she said.
She said generally, Livingstone records a high number of gender based violence related cases because people have now known where to report.
"It’s not like before where we could record only two or three cases a month, now we have something like 10 to 15 cases of gender based violence because they have broken the silence and known where to report and also known their rights," she said.
She said of the 15 cases recorded in July, three were of elopement involving ladies of ages 17 to 18, one of property grabbing and the rest being wife battering.
"Out of these cases, we have managed to help our clients. The widow whose late husbands house was sold by his relatives got her house back after we engaged the police and we also counselled and reconciled some couples that were fighting. So that is a plus on our side," she said.
This article was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper sometime in August 2018.
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