Teen pens book on gender-based violence

Kundai Marunya-Youth Interactive Correspondent

At a time when most of her peers are engaging in social ills such as drug abuse, sexual immorality and nude parties, 15-year-old Phakemenkosi Princess Moyo Mangena has published her first novel.

Titled “It’s a Tragic Life” the book is a tale of a woman who is perennially unlucky in love, concurrently finding herself in abusive relationships which ultimately leads to murder of her husband and daughter.

Mangena delves into depths of toxic relationships one would not imagine a teenager interrogating, as most people at her age would be embroiled in beliefs of fairytale relationships.

Her book is a true reflection of society, as gender-based violence cases continue to spiral, while marriages ending in murder of a partner, women in most cases, have become common, especially during the Covid-19 era.

Mangena said her book is about a woman whose relationships always end badly.

“It’s based on the life of a woman who married three times, each relationship always ending in tears,” she said.

“At first she married a man who assaulted her, then marries the man who becomes an accomplice in her daughter’s murder.

“In the end she leaves her marriage for a man who murders her third husband.”

Phakeme Thee Tenacious Maestro, as Mangena is affectionately known, said she was not a victim of gender-based violence herself, but drew her inspiration from movies.

“I started writing my book last September, then earlier this year I got inspired to continue and finish it,” she said.

“I was largely inspired by movies ‘The Assault’ and ‘Behind Closed Doors.'”

Mangena’s fit of becoming one of the youngest published authors in the country did not come without challenges.

“The publishers I approached were very expensive”, she said.

“Initially the  book was said to be too short, so I continued writing until it reached the required pages..

“Some of the challenges I overcame by putting God first in everything I did.”

Born and raised in Bulawayo, Mangena did her primary schooling at Godlwayo Primary School, before moving to Pumula High where she is a Form Three pupil.