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He uttered this statement at an HIV awareness workshop for MPs in Kadoma. Senator Femai said Zimbabwean women were too attractive and this fuelled the spread of the virus.
He claimed that by making themselves less attractive, women would help men to control themselves and resist their appeal.
“What I propose is that the Government should come up with a law that compels women to have their heads clean-shaven, like what the apostolic sects do.
“They also should not bath because that is what has caused all these problems,” said Senator Femai.
He went on to say women have got more moisture in their sexual organs as compared to men.
“Women have got more moisture in their organs as compared to men, so there is a need to research on how to deal with that moisture because it is conducive for bacteria breeding. There should be a way to suck out that moisture,” said Senator Femai.
Campaigners for women’s rights and ordinary Zimbabweans are outraged by his views. His remarks seem to show that the Senator in some way does not know how HIV is spread because one cannot say if women stop bathing then the spread of the virus would decrease.
The legislator also suggested that women spread the virus more than men because of their anatomy.
This, activists say, shows that some political leaders are still in the mist; they really do not know what spreads HIV because one cannot expect such utterances from a high profile person.
Mr Dingani Tshuma (31) said the sentiments were outrageous, as we cannot accept such to be done to women.
“How can a member of the Senate utter such statements to our women? We always speak of uplifting the girl child but if such statements are said then there is nothing that we have done, this shows that we are still oppressing these women,” he said.
Miss Mandisa Conjwayo (24) said people expected better from a Senator elected by the same women he is insulting.
“No wonder why our beloved nation is in a terrible state of decay. What has happened to our intelligent people of Zimbabwe to end up with such people in Government with the decency to stand up in a conference and utter such rubbish.
“HIV and Aids need to be addressed but this is not the way of addressing it. Men and women need to be educated and be responsible and know that certain behaviours could lead to infection. On the other hand the Government should be taking the lead in eradicating poverty, addressing sanitation, health and education. I think we need more educated and serious people to deal with our problems and not be guided by such ignorance,” she said.
Ms Precious Sibanda (45) lamented the way the Government was run as some officials failed to uphold modern ways of research and still dwelt on ancient ways.
“Again Zimbabwean leaders are caught lagging behind, and indisputably this proves that they are running Zimbabwe like an ancient state. With the catchphrase globalisation being sounded in all walks of life, there is no room to come up with old-fashioned theories, since globalisation benefits everyone from learning from each other.
“Why is it that our leaders cannot embrace modern views on issues beyond their research capabilities rather than coming up with nonsense?
“The truth is, accept that HIV is there and subsequently try to fund research programmes that can lead to objective knowledge of tackling the disease, just like how life-prolonging HIV drugs have been discovered through thorough research,” she said.
Senator Femai’s sentiments show the type of some officials we have in the country, as they have done nothing to prove the media wrong.
His remarks have also caused a stir with women organisations and HIV activists calling him “misguided and clueless”.
Young Women Christian Association co-director Mrs Barbara Masango said what the Senator said was unheard of because it is unhygienic not to bath.
“What he suggests is totally unhygienic because it goes against our culture and also the Bible says, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”.
“Bathing is out of the question as it can not control the Aids pandemic but if only men and women could control themselves to curb the spread of the virus.
In the past decade, the Government has launched a series of awareness programmes to educate people on methods to curb the HIV and Aids pandemic but Senator Femai’s sentiments show that a lot still has to be done to educate people on this deadly virus.
It seems Senator Femai’s suggestions on how to tackle the Aids pandemic are shared by a number of his colleagues in MDC-T. Before he opened his mouth, other MDC-T officials had also proposed some dubious thoughts on the subject.
MDC-T legislator Thabitha Khumalo recently proposed that married women should keep their husbands’ girlfriends close in order to help curb the spread of infectious viruses such as HIV. This means in some way she is promoting infidelity and unofficial polygamy.
MDC-T Matopo Senator, Sithembile Mlotshwa last year recommended that men must have their sex drive reduced such that they have sex once a month so as to reduce the spread of HIV.
She told fellow senators that the only avenue left to curb the spread of HIV among married people was by injecting husbands with an “immobiliser” to reduce their sex desire.
Online Reporter