Centre for Women Against Abuse (CWAA), an organisation that works with women and girls in Mashonaland West province noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had created many challenges, especially for women and girls.

“To navigate difficulties brought about by COVID-19, most families and guardians are marrying off their young girls as a survival mechanism,” the report added.

The CWAA director added that, just like the Nancy case, some parents marry off girls to reduce the number of children they have to support or to access bailouts in the form of lobola.

Extended school holidays due to the coronavirus pandemic exposed many girls to abuse, noted African Union goodwill ambassador for the campaign to end child marriages, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda.

A United Nations report released in April predicted that the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 414 200 lives globally since the disease was discovered in China last year, could lead to an extra 13 million child marriages over the next decade.