The wily guise of child sexual abuse ( Part 14)
. . . when inebriated people let their emotions get out of hand
As I was growing up in the village, I knew of three types of traditional brews. These traditional beers were ‘chi seven days’, chihwani and kachasu. The names of the first two were derived from the number of days taken to brew them, that is, seven days and one day.
The third one, kachasu, was an illicit brew that entailed distillation and addition of absurd ingredients such as laundry soap, heji (milky and sticky juice from plants), fertilizer and ‘jik’ a household bleach. Brewers of kachasu were always up in arms with law enforcers, even to this day, because of the harmful effects of the beer.
‘Chi seven days’ or doro rematanda (beer brewed over big fires made of logs) was very popular and brewed by women who were experts.
‘Chi seven days’ was brewed for sale or for traditional rituals; which is still the practice to this day. There were homesteads renowned for brewing tasty traditional beer and in honour; patrons would sing in praise.
In a way, it was a welcome marketing gimmick for the beer ‘business’. The late local musician ‘Sabhuku’ Jonah Sithole came up with a modern version of such praise songs in his song ‘Kana ndaguta ndicharova amai’ ( When I quench my quest for beer, I’ll beat up my mother’. To the contrary, the song was not about literally beating up the ‘mother’ but an expression of praise and gratitude to the ‘mother’ for brewing tasty beer. The lyrics of Sithole’s song are:
Hona kana ndaguta iwe ( When I have had enough of the beer)
Pandichaguta ( When I have had enough)
Doro ravo rinonyanyonaka wo (Her beer is so tasty)
VaMamoyo vakakanga doro heya he (MaMoyo brewed very tasty beer)
Ndibatei sekuru ndachemawo (Uncle restrain me, I plead with you)
Ndibatei mukoma ndapotawo (Brother, restrain me please)
Imbibers of my time meant well by drinking the traditional beer for social entertainment and praised the brewers for a good beer. This is in sharp contrast to those of today who take illicit brews like zed, musombodhiya, tegutegu, mtoriro, et cetera; to feel ‘high’ and sometimes end up committing offences.
I was privileged to interview Tom (not his real name), an inmate serving a sentence for attempted rape. He was remorseful and regretted having committed the offence after taking an illicit brew. Tom shared his story:
“I was arrested for a case of attempted rape. What happened is that, I was coming from ZA (place given), proceeding to
(place given) when I met this nineyear old girl around nine o’clock in the morning; who was proceeding to ZA where I was coming from.
“After passing each other, I turned back, caught up with her and started chatting with her”.
On being asked why he decided to pursue the girl, Tom responded:
“Aah. . . something was already happening in me because I was drunk, so I had seen that aah … I was already sexually aroused because we had met being only the two of us in this small path. I asked her where she was going, and she told me that she was going to be assisted with her homework.
“I then offered to assist her with the homework and dissuaded her from proceeding to
On being further quizzed whether he really wanted to assist the child with her homework, Tom had this to say:
“This was a way of trying to make the child like me then figure out a way of addressing my desire for sex. The child got convinced that I was going to assist her with the homework.
“I then took her to a house under construction which I thought was unoccupied, but unknown to me, there was a certain woman inside. I kept on persuading the girl, telling her that I wanted to assist her with her homework.
“By then, I had taken custody of her homework book. When we got into the incomplete and unoccupied part of the house, I’m sure the child sensed danger and started demanding her book back so that she would proceed with her journey.
“So, we started quarrelling over the book as I refused to hand it back. As I was persuading the child, I had now pulled her too close to me by her waist that she could hardly move.
“I had torn her dress and panties and was squeezing her. Alas, she managed to scream.
“The woman on the other side of the house heard the scream and came towards us shouting: ‘ Ndimi anani? Nhai mukwasha munopenga? Asi kamwana aka munoda kukabhinya ka imi?’ (‘ Who are you? Young man, are you out of your mind? You want to rape this child?’ Surely, I was drunk of musombodhiya (illicit brew) that I had been drinking non-stop for two days. I really wanted a woman badly. So, it is true that I really wanted to be intimate with this child”. Tom continued with his story: “People of the neighbourhood gathered after the woman of the house had shouted ‘bhinya’ (rapist). I bolted out but was pursued and apprehended by the mob.
“That day started the sad journey I am trekking today. When I initially set my eyes on that child, there was nothing that really attracted me on that ‘notyet-fully-formed’ body, except that an opportunity had arisen to be intimate with her”.
As we parted, his advice was: “People should not drink beer excessively. If you drink and feel sexually aroused, please go home to your wife or partner.
“In addition, children must be escorted to places where they seek services like ‘extra-lessons’ and must be taught to shun strangers”.
Dr Josephine 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’