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Gender Forum With Ruth Butaumocho
TWO months ago, I came across an interesting and captivating small book by Sven Lindquist titled “Exterminate All the Brutes”. Exterminate All the Brutes is a simple, but very touching narrative about the invention of racism to justify taking over the land of a small African country.

Despite limited opportunities and other factors to free themselves from the effects of racism, the populace of this unnamed African country is blamed for all its miseries.

They were blamed for being poor, though they were not in control of their resources and their fate had long been decided by their colonisers.

I was reminded of this book after the issue of Makanaka Wakatama took centre stage in the print and social media following an article she wrote for The Herald appealing to Government to end child marriages.

Makanaka got married at the age of 15. Her story, however, invited a backlash from some sections of the media and readers.

For daring to speak her mind, and warn other young girls of the dangers they face from preying rich men and ill-advice from parents, she was instead accused of being an opportunist who deserves no public sympathy.

Makanaka was accused of taking the nation for a ride by playing the victim card, when she should be embarrassed that she married early out of greed.

I totally disagree.

No matter how many times the public and the media may choose to revisit Makanaka’s story, it simply does not change the fact that she was a 15-year-old girl who got married after being enticed with gifts and promises of a good life.

The fact that she agreed to the arrangement — through persuasion or coercion from her mother — then her legal guardian, does not change her status.

Makanaka was a minor and could not make a wise decision, despite frantic efforts of the media and the Girl Child Network to dissuade her from her ill-fated decision.

In any case a pretty, gushing and impressionable 15-year old could not have made a solid decision without the support of her parents, in this case the mother, who should be getting the flak for Makanaka’s predicament.

She should have protected her daughter from the dangers of early marriage, but acted otherwise.

I vividly remember Makanaka’s mother shouting unprintable words to the then Herald senior reporter Tsitsi Matope — now based in Lesotho — after she phoned her seeking a comment, on whether she had approved of her daughter’s marriage.

Both Makanaka’s parents had the responsibility to shield their daughter from the social ills that come with fame, rather than encourage her to abandon her promising career in exchange for marriage.

If she indeed agreed to the plan, she was nothing but a minor whose decision was heavily flawed because of her age.

While Makanaka’s case might find few takers because of her so-called family background which my brother Garikai Mazara describes as “family of means”, her story is a reflection of the trials and tribulations that victims of early marriages go through at different stages of their lives irrespective of their economic and social backgrounds.

Makanaka is a victim of an early child marriage and the circumstances in which she entered the marriage do not change her position neither does it make her plea weaker than that of a girl in Kitsiyatota, faced with the same predicament.

A child will always be a child, and her reasoning capacity is not influenced by her social or economic standing.

Makanaka’s decision then could not have been any different from any other impressionable girl of her age. Everywhere, adolescence, is a time of transition. At this age, young people need special attention, sexual and reproductive health information and care that meet their needs.

It is a time of unique risks and ill advice: an astonishing 45 percent of all women living with HIV across the globe are between the ages of 15 and 24, and complications from pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death for 15-19 year old girls.

These statistics illustrate the dangers that girls in that age group find themselves in, and surely Makanaka could not have been an exception or immune to these dangers.

Rather than resort to fault-finding and name-calling, the nation should rein in parents and paedophiles who entice little girls with gifts and promises of a good life.