By Shepherd Masunda, Senior Reporter
Jokaz Entertainment organized a high-profile sports tournament at Chipadze Stadium over the weekend, utilizing football as a platform to intensify the fight against child marriages in Mashonaland Central Province. The campaign, however, exposed deeper social issues, with organizers linking the rise in child marriages directly to drug abuse and the activities of artisanal miners in the area.
Six local clubs—Gaza F.C., Sporting Manhenga, Bindura Municipality, Woodlands F.C., Maveg F.C., and Fire Colloso—participated, with the semi-finals scheduled for November 22nd.
Speaking to Goromondo Media, Joshua Kadzomba, an event organizer, expressed grave concern over the link between substance abuse and early marriage among youth.
“As event organizers, we are very worried about the way our girls are getting involved in drug and substance abuse, which has led to an escalation in the number of child marriages,” Kadzomba stated.
He further noted that while the organizers had hoped for wider participation to spread the campaign’s message throughout the province, logistical issues limited the number of competing teams. “We want the campaign to spread across the province, and we must always protect our girls,” he added.
Diana Dukwende, the only female member of the organizing team, highlighted the destructive influence of small-scale artisanal miners (locally known as Makorokoza).
“Artisanal miners are luring our young girls in exchange for money and gifts,” Dukwende revealed. “Young girls are easily persuaded by these miners; some fall pregnant at a very tender age, while others are being infected with Sexually Transmitted Infections.”The influx of informal gold miners in areas around Bindura and Mazowe has resulted in minors, some as young as 13 to 15 years old, dropping out of school to marry older men working in the mines.
The situation in Mashonaland Central appears to be compounding a critical national issue. According to UNICEF, approximately 34% of young girls in Zimbabwe are married before the age of 18. Organizers and local observers suggest that the growing population of illegal artisanal miners in the province has likely pushed the local child marriage statistics above this national average, demanding immediate intervention.
