Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (Sadc-PF) chief Boemo Sekgoma has unveiled plans to establish an annual award and a public lecture series in honour of Chief Theresa Kachindamoto of Dedza District, who died aged 57 last Wednesday.
According to Sadc-PF executive secretary Boemo Sekgoma, the 15-nation parliamentary bloc hopes the honors will accelerate regional efforts to eradicate child marriage and protect children’s rights.
The fallen Ngoni chief, born Theresa Maseko, was globally acclaimed as the “terminator of child marriages’ having freed hundreds of girls from illicit wedlock.
On Monday, Sekgoma said: “Chief Kachindamoto showed us that change is possible, even against deep-rooted practices. The proposed award and lecture series will not only honour her memory, but also create an enduring platform to sustain momentum and accountability.
“Through courage and innovation, she annulled thousands of child marriages, enforced community bylaws and re-enrolled girls in school, becoming an icon of grassroots leadership in protecting children. Her work must not die.”
Child marriage remains a pressing challenge across southern Africa, with the rates ranging from 53 percent in Mozambique to 33 percent in Zimbabwe and 38 percent in Malawi.
Unicef estimates that 30 percent of young women in Eastern and Southern Africa marry before 18 despite the rollout of the 2016 Sadc Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage.
Sekgoma said the southern African region cannot afford to slow down.
“We need innovative, consistent and sustained leadership at all levels, including parliaments, traditional authorities and the media,” she stated, disclosing the Chief Kachindamoto award will honour traditional leaders, journalists and media houses that demonstrate innovation, courage and measurable impact in fighting child marriage.
The public lectures will become a part of the Sadc PF Plenary Assembly Programme, “each featuring a keynote address; a panel discussion with MPs, traditional leaders and media practitioners before unveiling of the child marriage dashboard showing member States’ progress in implementing the Sadc model law.
During Kachindamoto’s funeral held at Mtakataka in Dedza District on Saturday, President Lazarus Chakwera eulogised the traditional leader as “a dedicated soldier” in defence of girls’ rights.
“The government will honor her memory by sustaining the reforms she championed,” he said.
United Nations Population Fund envoy Beatrice Kumwenda said the world has lost “a reformer whose works were replicated far and wide”.
(Reported by Moses Magadza, Sadc-PF communications manager. Additional reporting by James Chavula.)
