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Dr Josephine Shambare
Correspondent
I was engaged in a discussion on traditional brews with a group of young men who were in their late 30s. What caught my attention were utterances made by one of them who hailed from one of the regions of the country.
He had said that there was a traditional brew in his home area that if one drank it, one would crave for ‘spring chicken’. His four friends were in agreement with him, and that made me probe further.
I asked him:
“If you don’t have chickens back home, why do you drink the beer”?
The five of them burst into laughter and one of them offered an explanation:
“Mother, you missed the point. My friend is not talking about real chickens but is referring to young girls. After drinking the beer, you start to have a sexual appetite; and the only target to address the issue can be the unsuspecting young girls.
“The older ones would be a problem because time would be wasted trying to negotiate for sexual favours”.
He further explained that the brew was normally sold in the evenings until late into the night.
As the discussion continued, the five young men agreed that rape of young girls was an unacceptable offence and perpetrators deserved stiffer sentences as a deterrent measure. They even vowed to go back to their villages and influence the implementation of certain measures some of which were: firstly, to ensure that whoever wanted to brew the traditional beer had to be cleared by the village head.
Secondly, the beer had to be sold during weekends only when most people were at home. Thirdly, no beer was to be sold after 3 PM so that everyone would disperse and go back to their spouses or partners.
They felt that, that way, they would be able to monitor potential culprits.
I learnt something from the conversation I had had with the group of young men. Most organisations and institutions tended to concentrate more on the plight of victims who were mainly girl-children and women oblivious of the fact that most solutions lay with the perpetrators who knew exactly how they committed the offences.
My thoughts raced back to an interview I once had with an inmate, Pondai (not his real name), who had been arrested for raping a five-year old girl.
He narrated his story:
“I was raised by my maternal grandparents during which I used to herd cattle with my aunt’s children who were much younger than me. When growing up, I learnt that children were so innocent, vulnerable, trusting and respectful.
“That time I never abused any of the children because they were so cute and they respected me. I finally left my grandparents to stay on my own when I got married.
“At the time of arrest, I was married with three children. I always played with children from the neighbourhood who used to come to my house to play with my third child who was two years old then.
“On the day of the offence, my wife was not at home. I had taken her to her parents two months earlier for a ritual called ‘kusungira’. It’s a ritual whereby an expectant mother is taken to her parents for them to monitor and assist her with her pregnancy until she gives birth. From the time I had my first child until the third one, my friends were slowly introducing me to drinking beer and taking drugs so that I would not feel lonely each time I took my wife for the ‘kusungira’ ritual.
“My neighbour used to send his five-year old daughter to charge mobile phones at my house because he had not yet connected electricity at his house. So, his daughter was so used to my two-year old daughter and she would imitate how my daughter used to play with me on my lap. I could send the neighbour’s daughter to do anything for me and she would comply out of respect.
“I would reward her with goodies like candies, ice-cream and buns. The other children were disrespectful and would not even greet me sometimes, though they were friends to my little girl.
“In the absence of my wife, I began to take more alcohol, drugs and other harmful substances. I remained ‘high’ most of the time since a day never passed without taking any of that ‘stuff’. ‘Evil spirits’ started to wreak havoc on me.
“My behaviour changed and suddenly wanted to sleep with any one of the kids who came to my house to play. The ‘rude’ kids would run away on realising my motive.
“On the day of the offence, the neighbour’s child came to play on my lap as usual.
“As I saw her coming, my trousers zip was already lowered. I did what I did very quickly and she bit me all over my hands screaming.
“On seeing that, my own children and the other children started screaming. My neighbours rushed to apprehend me and handed me over to the police. This is why I’m in jail today.”
As the interview came to an end, Pondai was full of regret and had advice to give:
“How am I going to face my neighbour after serving my sentence?
“I need help because there are ‘evil spirits’ that haunt me and force me to take alcohol, drugs and narcotic substances and become insane.
“I need spiritual people to help me. Also, girl-children should not play close to men who take these substances because these men may fail to control themselves”.
Dr Josephine Shambare writes on social issues for entertainment and awareness, in her own capacity. Excerpts are taken from her unpublished autobiography; and PhD thesis: ‘The Enigma of Child Sexual Abuse in the Zimbabwean context: Beyond Statistics’
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