The Grade Six pupil, whose identity is being withheld, is said to have been in a “love affair” with the married man since January this year.The relationship only came to light after her late mother’s sister noticed her bulging stomach last month.

Last week, the man appeared before Mbare magistrate Mr Reward Kwenda facing three counts of having sexual intercourse with a minor as defined by the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act) Chapter 9:23.

It is the State’s case that the man, who lived right next door, allegedly visited the orphan on January 16. He allegedly proposed love to her while she was doing the dishes. He then allegedly became intimate with her four days later after she assented to the relationship.

It is further alleged that he again had sexual intercourse with the girl on February 2 after inviting her to collect some groundnuts at his lodgings. The two are said to have come together once again on March 3. The girl’s aunt only discovered the pregnancy on August 12, leading to startling revelations of the affair.

Public prosecutor Mr Sydom Chinzete said the accused — who was granted US$50 bail — is expected to appear for trial on September 30.

When The news crew visited the girl’s home last week the man was said to have left the neighbourhood after the alleged affair came to light.The 13-year-old’s brother said the accused was close to the family since he lived next door for more than 15 years.

He said he was caught between a rock and a hard place, as the local community was accusing him of negligence. He said no one was able to notice the pregnancy because she concealed it by always wearing a jersey.

“It is difficult to come to terms with the situation because my sister is only a schoolgirl,” said the minor’s distraught brother.“To be honest, one could not tell that she was pregnant since it was winter and she would always be wearing a jersey.”

He added: “I am stunned, to say the least. He (the accused) was like family to us. We would even share food with him.“I never imagined that he would do something as grave as this. He has been living next door while his family is in the rural areas.”

The girl’s guardian said the family plans to settle the matter with the accused.“We have held discussions with him and so far, he has agreed that he will take care of the baby and the hospital bills after the baby is delivered,” he said.

“We just hope he will co-operate as he promised. He has to. It is embarrassing. How can our child move around the neighbourhood in such a state?”
Meanwhile, police in the capital have arrested a Glen View man on allegations of raping his 14-year-old girlfriend. Kennedy Makwande (23) appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Simon Kachambwa on Friday facing rape charges.

According to prosecutor Ms Joyce Fusire, the rape occurred on Monday last week. It is understood Makwande approached the teenager in Mbare high-density suburb while she was walking home from school with friends.

He allegedly pulled her away, saying he wanted her to accompany him to inspect a house he intended to rent. The two had been “lovers” since June this year.

The two then visited the house in the National section of the suburb. Makwande allegedly went into the house while the girl remained outside.
He is alleged to have later ushered her into a room at the house. He then, it is alleged, locked the door before requesting intimacy.

However, the girl refused, prompting the accused to force himself on her. After the alleged rape, Makwande is said to have tried to silence the 14-year-old, who refused and proceeded to report the crime to the man’s relatives.

Tawanda Gomba (27) of Msasa Park appeared before magistrate Mr Simon Kachambwa last Friday to answer to charges of trying to kill Grace Jembere.

It is the State’s case that the incident occurred while Jembere and two other police officers were carrying out a blitz on unroadworthy public transport vehicles in the city centre last Tuesday.

It is understood Gomba was netted in the exercise. He is said to have stopped by the roadside to enable the officer to inspect the vehicle.

He, however, allegedly took off while she was still in front of the omnibus. The officer had to hold on to the front bumper to avoid being run over.

Gomba allegedly continued driving and went through a red traffic light. The omnibus is said to have only stopped after another vehicle rammed into it.

Mr Sithembinkosi Msipa was told this during the appearance of Albert Maruva (35) of Mimosa Road, Daylesford suburb in Gweru, who is facing charges of aggravated indecent assault.

Maruva pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded to 17 September on $30 bail.For the State, Ms Nomanguni Mabasa said on an unknown date but during the month of June this year and at a house in Daylesford, Maruva met a six-year-old juvenile who was passing by on her way to play with her friends from the neighbourhood.

Ms Mabasa said the accused grabbed the juvenile by hand and told her that he wanted to give her some sweets inside the house.The court heard that the juvenile complied and the accused led her to the house into his bedroom.

Ms Mabasa said while in the bedroom, the accused went on to undress the juvenile and started kissing her private parts before he inserted his finger into the juvenile’s private parts.

She said the minor then complained that she was irritated by the accused’s act after which he allegedly gave her some sweets and told her not to tell anyone so that she could continue to come and collect more sweets.

The court heard that the girl later reported the matter to an older playmate who later reported the matter to the girl’s mother.Ms Mabasa said it was later discovered during a discussion involving parents of the children in the neighbourhood that the accused had also earlier committed the same crime on another minor in the same neighbourhood, also aged six.

While some people pack up their merchandise and go back home after a hard day’s work, revellers begin to settle in the nightspots dotting the growth point, for what promises to be a night of delights.

It is, however, only after 8pm that a number of young women make their way into the biggest, open-air nightclub.

Among them is big-built Stembile (25), who rolls in on a wheelchair, having spruced herself up for the night and made ready for work. All male eyes are glued on her, but she’s unfazed — she’s apparently a queen in her trade, and she’s so disarmingly open about it.

As the night progresses, it is clear that most of the men around wouldn’t mind a piece of this mother of one, who travelled all the way from Birchenough Bridge, 80km away, to earn a living here.

Around her, her colleagues seem to be “dirty-dancing” on the club’s stage, hoping to attract clients scattered around the bar, drinking, pretending lack of interest in the sex traders.

Stembile says Fridays to Sundays are prime business nights and on a good night, she can pocket as much as $40, which is why she laughs off this writer’s suggestion to opt for vending. “Ah, that doesn’t pay,” she laughs.

Stembile, who lost her ability to walk after suffering from nhetamakumbo (polio) many years ago, opted to come and work so far away from home to sidestep her family’s wrath.

In her line of businesses, experiences vary with each night, and Stembile is shocked by the brutality of some of her clients.

“Sometimes you wonder if they are that rough with their wives,” she muses.

She is one of the many young women who have turned to commercial sex work at this hub, which is strategically located along a highway that connects Masvingo, Chivhu, Beitbridge, Mutare, Bulawayo and Kwekwe.

Long-distance haulage truck drivers often take overnight respite at this place known for, among other things, its gochi gochi (braaing facilities).
Prostitutes of ages ranging between 15 and 35 — charge $10 to $15 per night, which can be negotiated downwards to half that price.

Short-time prices range from as little as $2 to $5.

Clients who put their money on Stembile are probably fascinated by the “novel” idea of bedding a disabled sex worker, not that her looks are not an attraction, the lure of the disability aside.

“Sometimes we just look at the client and do an assessment,” says Charity (17). “If you look bling bling, we charge you more.”

Prostitution in the area, according to Chief Marozva, has ripped through the community’s moral fabric. Hunger, which is widespread in the community, he says, has been a significant feeder of the problem.

The Chiadzwa diamond rush in 2008, recalls the chief, virtually turned Nyika Growth Point into a haven for prostitution.

“During the Chiadzwa days, women were left alone as the men went to hunt for diamonds. They had a lot money to splash out at the growth point and I’m sure in the next few years, we’ll begin to see the results of that,” says Chief Marozva.

A lot of people virtually deserted their villages in the surrounding areas to set up their base at Nyika Growth Point.

“Things were hard because the parents didn’t have anything to give their children, and when some parents thought their children were in Chiadzwa, some were virtually camped at the growth point,” he adds.

A village elder and aide to the chief, Elijah Chiseva, said a lot of children — including pupils who engaged in errant behaviour — perished at the growth point.

An organisation called Regai Dzive Shiri (Let them be birds) was then set up to embark on an extensive HIV and Aids education programme.

One of the most popular prostitutes in the area, whose reputation seems to have become legendary, had reportedly travelled to Harare for the Akon/Sean Paul show when the NewsDay crew visited Nyika Growth Point.

Because she is so young, maybe 13 or 14, they nickname her muGrade 7 (Grade 7 pupil).

Many businesses at Nyika Growth Point have long folded up due to lack of business, leaving nightclubs and bars to command the biggest chunk of the clientele.

Rugare Zvikuva (30) of Marozva Village, who works in one of the nightspots, explains the process of hooking up with the prostitutes, most of whom seemed to prefer a secretive transaction ahead of getting down to serious business.

“There are number of pimps. You just talk to one of them and go out. Soon afterwards, the pimp will tip the prostitute and you go outside to discuss business,” he says.

“When you reach an agreement, money exchanges hands and the prostitute takes you to their lodgings, which are close by.”

Encounters can last the entire night. But as the morning sun rises, the life seems to wilt out of the growth point, which slowly goes back to sleep and waits for the return of night .

Portia Jiri of Number 71, Tongogara, Palmerstone low-density area of Mutare and self-employed, told the court that her husband of four years had abandoned her for another woman.

She told the court that Fukuzeya brought home another wife in May and they have been staying in a single room ever since.In her submissions before Mutare magistrate, Mr Nixon Mangoti, Portia said she was sickened and disgusted whenever the two went into intimate in her presence.

“When my husband got another wife, everything changed and life became difficult for me, for we were made to sleep together in one bed-roomed house.

“The two would make love in my presence and this was sickening. The $420 maintenance I am asking is for the welfare of my three-year-old child and I.

“I also want the money to rent a separate room, which will be at the same compound with his because I still love my husband,” said Portia.
When asked by Mr Mangoti what he had to say about the said amount, Fukuzeya said that he could not afford it, the reasons being that he had three other children from three different mothers he was looking after.

“I have three other children apart from the one I have with the applicant I am looking after. “I have policies for my children and the amount is deducted every month from my salary.

“I also pay rentals and bills as well as groceries every month, so I cannot afford the $420,” said Fukuzeya.Mr Mangoti made it clear to Fukuzeya that he was a very lucky man to have not been brought to book under the Domestic Violence Act.

“You are very lucky that you have not been sued by your wife for domestic violence because as far as the law is concerned you are abusing her.
You were violating your first wife’s rights. As big as you are, you should act responsibly,” he said.

Fukuzeya acknowledged that his actions of having two women in one bedroom were improper.”Plans of moving to a big and better place are underway,” said Fukuzeya.

Out of curiosity, Mr Mangoti asked their sleeping arrangement and he replied that his first wife sleeps on the bed together with their three-year-old child and the second wife and him sleep on the floor.

The incident occurred last week in Chief Mukanganwi’s Magorogodo village in Bikita. Acting police spokesman for Masvingo Province, Inspector Prosper Mugauri, confirmed the death of Clareta Sasa (18) who died a week after she was severely assaulted by her husband Mugove Bumure with a cooking stick.

Bumure has since been arrested.He said sometime last week Bumure went to collect his wife from her parents’ home in Zaka where she had gone to deliver.

She had given birth through an operation and had been advised by the doctor to abstain from sexual activities for a period of four weeks.

However, Asst Insp Mugauri said, when they got home that night Bumure demanded that her wife give him his conjugal rights but the wife refused saying she was strictly advised not to be intimate until a period of four weeks lapsed.

The husband is said to have argued that he had stayed too long without enjoying his conjugal rights saying he did not engage in sex ever since she went to her parents to deliver. He is said to have rubbished the doctor’s advise as nuisance.

Bumure insisted that he wanted to be intimate with his wife despite her complaining of pain and her desire to adhere to the doctor’s advice.

The argument later degenerated into a heated one where he took a cooking stick and assaulted his wife several times all over the body where she sustained serious injuries.

Clareta ran away and went back to his parents’ home where she was not taken to hospital and her condition continued to deteriorate. She died a week later from the injuries she sustained after the beating and her body was taken to hospital where a postmortem will be conducted.

“It is true. We received a report that a man from Bikita assaulted his wife with a cooking stick after she refused on medical grounds to give in to his demands for conjugal rights. She had given birth through an operation. The wife died a week later after the assault from the suspected injuries,’’ said Asst Insp Mugauri.

The court acted according to his wishes as he was sentenced to an effective one-year term for the offence.

This was heard during the appearance of Innocent Mhlanga, who was convicted on his plea of guilty when he appeared before Western Commonage magistrate, Mr Themba Chimiso, for contravening section 126 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23, robbery.

Mrs Fiona Denhere-Ncube for the State, told the court that on 15 August at around 5.30pm, the complainant, Collphinah Tshabangu, was answering a phone call when Mhlanga approached her from behind and snatched away her cellphone.

The phone contained two sim cards and a memory card.When the complainant tried to get her cellphone back, the robber became violent and threatened to assault her before disappearing with it.

The complainant reported the matter at Pumula Police Station and she managed to identify the culprit who had already sold it.The total value of property stolen was US$75 and US$66 of the stolen property was recovered.

This has seen a mass exodus of staff from the hospital, which is the second largest referral hospital in the district after Kwekwe General Hospital.The hospital, which is supposed to have 128 workers is left with only 25workers.

This was revealed during a tour of the hospital by Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe and the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Doctor Henry Madzorera.

Briefing Khupe and her entourage before the tour of the institution, the acting District Medical Officer, Dr Julius Mahachi, said the situation at the hospital was so critical that nurses were being forced to share accommodation with patients in the wards.

He said until his recent appointment, the hospital had gone for three years without a doctor because of the accommodation shortage.

“The staff houses were supposed to be constructed under Phase Three of the institution’s construction but work was suspended after Phase two.

“This has resulted in the hospital operating with very limited staff houses, forcing nurses to share accommodation with mothers in the maternity wing,” he said.

Dr Mahachi said unless the problems of accommodation and communication were addressed, qualified professionals will shun areas such as Silobela hospital.

Zimgossip can reveal that Jamaican based duo Nyanda and Nailah Thorbourne better refered to by their stage name, Brick and Lace, have been furious after learning that they had to be moved from the Rainbow Towers to Meikles Hotel as the former had no water.

A source at the hotel said the two sisters expressed shock at the sub standard nature of the government owned hotel.

“They … clearly expressed shock at the way the Hotel looked and worse still the water situation. We were told to keep quiet about it but everyone at work blushed with embarrasment.”

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said he would deal with the issue.

“This is bad and I am on this case. I want people to explain this mishap now,” said Kaseke who is known for his fiery temper.

The girls are billed to perform their upcoming show in Mutare tomorrow and in Harare on Saturday night.

“We are ready to give Zimbabwe the best that we can,” the girls said.

Mugabe flew into Namibia at the weekend from China where he attended the Zimbabwe Day at the Shanghai Fair and later took time to go on a shopping spree in Hong Kong.

The Air Zimbabwe plane which normally flies to London was expected to fly back home Tuesday evening at the end of the summit which was celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

The plane was parked on a section of the airport allocated to presidential jets of regional leaders. Next to the Zimbabwean big bird was South African President, Jacob Zuma’s plane which is operated by the South African Airforce and a jet belonging to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president Joseph Kabila.