Zimpapers Logo

A Form 2 girl in Domboshava is at the centre of a scandal rocking the community after she fell pregnant and dropped out of school. She cannot be named for legal and ethical reasons. The story doing the rounds is that the girl was impregnated by her mother’s lover but she herself maintains that it was her uncle, her mother’s 16-year-old brother who repeatedly raped her.

There has been a lot of controversy in the past year as to the legal age of sexual consent in Zimbabwe. It has been generally understood to be 16. But Zimbabwe has also been in the news over the case of child marriages where it is estimated that more than three girls out of every 10 are married. There have also been many reported cases of sexual abuse of minors carried out with the knowledge and consent of parents and guardians.

The young girl last attended Form Two classes on July 15 this year and is now home bound, barely able to move because of her burgeoning tummy. She has no suitable maternity wear and also says that she does not have anything prepared for the coming baby such as clothes, swaddling cloths and nappies.

“There is a man that people claim is my mother’s lover who is said to be the one who impregnated me. That is a lie. It is my uncle who made me pregnant. “He used to rape me in that room and threaten me into not telling anyone. Whether my mother is in an adulterous relationship with the man that people are talking about is not something that I would know so I cannot refute or confirm those allegations,” the young girl said.

The girl’s mother denies the allegations that she has a lover or that her daughter’s pregnancy is because mother and daughter are sharing the same man. “When we went to the police and to the clinic my daughter said she had been impregnated by my 16-year-old brother who has since fled to Epworth,” she said.

The girl’s father said he is not convinced that his brother-in-law is responsible for his daughter’s pregnancy because the rumour mill insists that his wife and daughter have been involved with the same man.

He denies having taken a cow as payment in return for his silence over the matter. He would like to have DNA tests performed on the child after his daughter gives birth so that paternity can be established. But after the interview the girl’s father then called the reporter that he had spoken to and ordered the paper not to publish the story saying that it would destroy his family.

Translated and condensed from Kwayedza