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This is the true story of a man on ART who, despite his health condition, has gone on to remarry after the death of each of his wives.

No one knows whether he disclosed his status to these women.
He has survived endless close shaves with death, including a severe bout of meningitis in 2006.
Many assumed it to virtually be a foregone conclusion that the man would die when he slipped into comatose for over two weeks when he had meningitis.

The medical staff at the hospital told the family that under such circumstances, they must be prepared for the worst.
They were told that the chances of one coming out of comatose after the first 48 hours would be slimmer with each passing day.

Medical experts say that usually one is expected to come out of a coma within two days.
However, James’ predicament was peculiar owing to his compromised immune system, meningitis and now a coma, his prospects of surviving looked dim.

During his two-week coma, his next of kin had all but concluded his funeral arrangements.
On one of the afternoon visiting hours, the man opened his eyes and shocked people.
His road to recovery was slow as he remained for over a month in the hospital recuperating.
Truly, the man pulled a Lazarus on the world by virtually coming back from the dead.

However, today people feel the grim reaper should have taken the man as he now seems to be sending innocent women to the grave to meet the maker in his stead.
The man, who lives in one of the low density suburbs, has three adult children. Two of the children stay abroad and spoil their dad every now and again.

He lives alone at the well manicured leafy home with a gardener and a maid.
He runs a fleet of kombis which ply the City-Epworth route.
The other two wives could have married him for his wealth.
Poverty is known to be a pull factor in the cycle of HIV spread and breaking it down appears a challenge.

The man settled for women who worked in the neighborhood as domestic workers proving how the power of money can make people settle for anything.
A maid who is invited to taste the good life at the four bed-roomed house would not want to miss the chance to be the madam of the house.

The first maid who worked down the road was Miriam and came from Hwedza. She would sneak to the man’s house when she was off duty. The gardeners’ eyes are all over and in no time the neighbourhood was awash with news that Miriam and sekuru James were dating. The maid who worked at sekuru’s house could have been eyeing the vacant position too and she was quick to tell all and sundry that Miriam was of loose morals.

That sekuru was old enough to be her father did not matter and before year-end, Miriam stopped working as she was pregnant. She went back to her people where the marriage party was sent by sekuru James.
It appears Miriam’s family was more than pleased. Their daughter had left the rural home for the city barely a year earlier in search of work as a domestic worker and had now returned with her hand being asked for in marriage by a wealthy man.

The new in-law did not disappoint.
He paid handsomely and all was concluded. The village neighbours enjoyed a huge feast and the other mothers wished their daughters who had gone to work in the city would be as lucky as Miriam.
Miriam came back and took her rightful place in the home. The first thing she did was to dismiss the maid because she was a threat. She would find a more suitable maid who was answerable to her.

Miriam who attended one of the apostolic sects that do not allow their parishioners to visit the hospital booked her maternity ‘clinic’ with the church’s midwife.
Sekuru James was more than pleased that his wife was not going to go to the clinic where the ever nosy staffers were going to educate her on the importance of taking an HIV test as a way to reduce mother to child transmission chances.

Miriam went into labour and was taken to the midwife. She had complications and was monitored for three days, unfortunately both mother and child died.
Miriam’s family was not difficult because she did not die in hospital. They even offered their new in-law another wife.
Sekuru James turned down the offer as he said he was bereaved and needed time to get over the untimely death of his beloved one.

The eagle-eyed man wasted no time in grieving over his wife and was back to his old ways and soon courted another seemingly naïve domestic worker.
However, this time around the community told the young girl of the old fox’s ways since she was new in the area but she would not listen.

Chipo soon started spending her off days at the beautiful house. In fact the place was better than where she worked.
In no time at all she conveniently fell pregnant and marriage rites soon followed. For her she would not make it through the second trimester of her pregnancy. She would lose the baby in the fifth month.
As one determined to be a mother she would be pregnant again in no time.

She had been having multiple miscarriages and by the time one of her relatives hauled her to clinic it was too late.
She tested HIV positive and her CD4 count was 22. She also had a running stomach and TB.
Only last week, Chipo was laid to rest in Epworth cemetery where her parents come from.
It is a crime punishable up to a period of 20 years in Zimbabwe for someone to deliberately infect someone.

Section 79 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23 criminalize deliberate or negligent transmission of HIV. It says:
1. Any person who
a) knows that he or she is infected with HIV, or
b) he or she is infected with HIV intentionally does anything or permits the doing of anything which he or she knows will infect, or does anything which he or she realizes involves a real risk or possibility of infecting another person with HIV, shall

be guilty of infecting another person with HIV, shall be guilty of deliberate transmission of HIV, whether or not he or she is married to that person, and shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 20 years.
2. It shall be a defence to a charge under sub-section (1) for the accused to prove that the other person concerned:
(a.) knew that the accused was infected
(b.) Consented to the Act in question, appreciating the nature of HIVand the possibility of becoming infected.

There is a law to protect innocent people from infected but one has to prove that they were negative before the sexual act.
This proves difficult as in most cases one would not have taken an HIV test prior to the union.
An interesting case that appeared before the courts was that of a Mufakose woman who was on active ART and was a member of a support group. This means that her status was public knowledge.

She got involved in a sexual union with a man who later had her arrested accusing her of infecting him with HIV.
The woman Rosemary Jaboon, aged 40, was dragged to court by her former lover who claimed that she deliberately infected him with the virus.

The case was heard before Harare magistrate Mr Clever Tsikwa and it made interesting following.
In making the ruling, Mr Tsikwa said “the State had to prove that the accused person knew that she was HIV positive and that she deliberately infected the complainant.

Rosemary escaped conviction because the complainant was not a credible witness and the manner in which he gave evidence left a lot to be desired.

The complainant had a girlfriend and child who had died from HIV-related illness it was noted.
The magistrate had this to say: “An accused person can escape conviction if it is proved that the complainant knew that the accused person was infected with HIV and that he consented to the act in question, appreciating the nature of HIV and the possibility of becoming infected with it.”

“. . . in view of the foregoing, it is my finding that the evidence led in this (case) falls far short of proving beyond reasonable doubt that the accused deliberately infected the complainant with HIV, she is therefore not found guilty and acquitted.”
It therefore appears that the burden on the state to prove guilt on the part of accused is somewhat onerous.

There is a saying that the law protects the vigilant but however, even if the person who infected you goes to prison that will not undo the damage that has already befallen you.

With that said I strongly feel that the onus is upon everyone to protect themselves and be vigilant against possible infections even from would be spouses.

Just as family introductions of the prospective spouse are mandatory in most cultures, one should also insist on HIV testing prior to indulging in sexual intercourse.