‘BAN HOUSE PARTIES’

Bulisile Mguni Chronicle Reporter
THE increasing popularity of the house parties, popularly known as “vuzu parties” that are hosted by youths, result in “sexual marathons” and should be abolished, a senior official said recently.

Bulawayo provincial National Aids Council (Nac) coordinator Sinatra Nyathi said the organisation had teamed up with the police in its campaigns against the parties and was visiting schools in Bulawayo.

Nyathi told journalists last Thursday that the parties fuelled the spread of HIV among the youths.

“We intend to go around schools in Bulawayo because of late we’ve realised teenage parties have become very popular,” she said.

“During these parties, they engage in what is called the $5 party deals, where they’ve sexual intercourse races to compete and see who would have slept with the highest number of girls in a given time,’ Nyathi said.

She said what was disturbing was that they don’t use protection.

Nyathi said the campaigns would address issues about drug abuse, HIV and AIDS and condemn the parties.

“We want to first target schools in the city’s eastern suburbs because that’s where most parties are held. We’ve since realised that these parties are mostly hosted by teens whose parents are outside the country using money sent from the Diaspora,” said Nyathi.

She said police would not arrest the teenagers behind these parties but would seek to educate them.

Nyathi said Lodge owners were taking part in the organisation of Vuzu parties by providing venues.

In a bid to make sure these parties are stopped, the police have opened a WhatsApp number platform 0776 097 122 which members of the public can use to provide information to the police.

NAC noted that Bulawayo has a high spousal separation rate which also contributes to the city being an HIV and AIDS hotspot.

Nyathi said people with spouses in the Diaspora often slept with them when they returned home without checking on their HIV status.

She said as a result Bulawayo and Matabeleland South had high HIV prevalence rates.

“A lot of sexual movement is happening in Bulawayo and Matabeleland. The sad part is that it’s not the people from these two areas who spread the virus but those people who will be crossing the border from other countries. The people on transit from other countries tend to engage in unsafe sex,” she said.