Online Reporter
Tendai Rupapa-Senior Reporter
In a tear-jerking incident, pregnant with lessons for young girls, First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa yesterday held a heart-to-heart counselling session for a pregnant 14-year-old Chinhoyi girl who went viral on social media hurling insults at her mother who sought to take her back home.
Lured with rice and potatoes in addition to the promise of a “better life”, the young girl was impregnated by a married gold panner, Munyaradzi Musarurwa, who has now skipped court and is being sought by the police, leaving the minor in the lurch.
Musarurwa appeared in court on 10 January where he pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with a young person. He was remanded out of custody for sentencing on January 14. He defaulted and is now on the run.
Before his departure, Munyaradzi had exposed the teenager to a polygamous union in which he made the three of them share a room with his wife.
The video clip in which the girl was verbally assaulting her mother and resisting her efforts to take her home, prompted Amai Mnangagwa to look for the minor to hear her side of the story and offer her the necessary counselling.
Above all, the First Lady made the young girl apologise to her mother and all mothers in Zimbabwe and make the correct choice of going back to school after giving birth.
The session comes at a time when Dr Mnangagwa has been holding educative Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba sessions urging learners to shun romantic relationships and focus on their education for a brighter future.
“What you did is not good mwanangu in our eyes as mothers. At law, it is illegal that at 13 years you be involved in sexual activities. You started bedding men at 13 because you told me that you first slept with another man called Millard who was also arrested for the same offence.
“You later left him for Munyaradzi and those are loose morals. When I asked how you performed in Grade Seven, you said you had 35 units. That is not a good performance. Do you know that this does not bode well for you?” the First Lady said as she fought back tears during her counselling session with the minor.
“The pregnancy is now advanced, the child needs upkeep and you can only return to school after giving birth. How many months will it take to give birth, look after the child, and go back to school? How old will you be? As mothers, we were pained as you spiritedly embarrassed your mother pamberi pevanhu. It prompted me to search for you and talk to you semwana. I then understood after you told me that the drink which you consumed which Munyaradzi gave you that day might have been laced with alcohol and it made you do so because that violence and the calmness you are exhibiting today are miles apart. You are now appreciating that you erred. But now you are pregnant, but at 14 this is difficult. You cannot deliver because you are young. Your body is not firm enough for childbirth. This means you shall be operated on or you shall have tears which we call fistula. You must register at the clinic. If you do not register now, you will have complications. Hona manje wave wega nemimba yako, Munyaradzi akatiza. Above all, you must apologise to your mother and all mothers countrywide. The way your mother gave birth to you is the same way that we all bore our children ndosaka tese takarwadziwa sana amai. I called you here out of pain that we could not keep quiet as you exhibited wayward behaviour. Ask for forgiveness from your mother, and advise other girls as a learning curve because 13-year-olds must not bed men. You shared the house with another woman and Munyaradzi at that tender age. Is that normal?”
The girl responded: “It was tough and there was no future.”
And the First Lady asked her again: “So what are you planning to do.”
She said: “I am thinking of going back to school.”
“What of the pregnancy? You must first deliver. What will you do as you will be going to school?” the First Lady continued.
The girl responded saying: “I will be going to school with my baby ndichimbobuda muclass ndichimuyamwisa.”
The First Lady then said: “Now ask for forgiveness from your mother so that she accepts you back and will look after your baby when you go back to school.”
It was a touching moment when she knelt before her mother asking for forgiveness with tears running down her cheeks.
“Mhamha, I ask for forgiveness for all the things that I wronged you, did, and lied to you. You are my mother and I saw that a mother is important in everyone’s life. Now that I am pregnant, I ask you to welcome me back home. Amai makakosha, I have no one else to look up to kunze kwenyu imimi.
“Ndirimwana ndakatadza zvikuru, handichade zvevarume futi kusvika ndapedza kudzidza. I promise to be a good girl. Musandirasewo mhamha, please forgive me,” the girl said.
The girl’s mother also started crying as she embraced her daughter, a sign that she had forgiven her.
She was also touched by the First Lady’s intervention to reunite her with her daughter.
“Mwanangu, I am glad that you have left all the bad things that you were doing. I want you to go back to school and learn the way other children do. I expect you to have a bright future and have something tangible that you will do in life. I will keep helping you but. You must have something in life and this comes from learning.
“This is what I wished for you, this is what I still wish for you. I thank you, Amai, our First Lady for inviting us here and talking to us. I thank you for the love you have shown us that has made it possible for me to unite with my daughter. I was no longer staying with her as she was taken to a safe house. She hurled insults at me but saamai, I have forgiven her,” the mother said.
Dr Mnangagwa also had words of encouragement for the girl and her mother.
“Now as a mother, you have a responsibility on your shoulders to look after the child. You have to see to it that you take her to the hospital to get registered for prenatal care so that she delivers properly. I shall assist you because as it stands the man responsible for this ran away and he is someone who was married, making them live in one room the three of them.
“There is no positivity here and usually, a man will revert to his real wife and leave this girl, the way he ran away as we speak. If you want to find where Munyaradzi went, he is actually with his wife. This comes as I always say young children in this nation have become a menace. Vakumhanyira zvevakomana nguva isati yakwana. Men then abuse and run away. Like in this case, she was impregnated and dumped. This is why we emphasise that at school girls must look after themselves well. Munyaradzi is not crying at all, but this girl is the one in tears and has dropped out of school. Schoolchildren must remain in school because of the way we are living and where we are going, no man will accept a woman who did not go to school.
“Nowadays men want someone who is helpful and has something to bring income. Young children must take heed. On my toll-free line 575, I am getting a lot of calls where people are crying about children who elope with their lovers between 13 and 14 years of age. Now listen vanangu, that should never be done. You heard the experience that mumwe wenyu has shared. During our time, we never grew up knowing that a 13-year-old child gets into bed with men.
“Pregnancy has come and she is now asking for forgiveness. We do not want instances where children fall pregnant and ride on the strength of asking for forgiveness. A girl child must treasure her body as I usually say. Treasure yourself because the one who bears the brunt of it all is you the girl child. All girls of Zimbabwe, you heard your colleague speaking. She has been affected because she is pregnant at 14 and that is why I am saying ask for forgiveness from your mother and do not do the same again. We do not want to hear that you would have aborted. Give birth to your child and I will make a follow-up to find out how things would have fared. Do not sleep with men. You have pained us and embarrassed us as mothers. If you decide to live with your mother, please stay put. I think your mother has forgiven you because I heard her say so. I called you here because I was pained.
“All mothers countrywide were pained and do not do this again,” she said.
“We were pained by what we saw on social media. We were not pleased by that state of affairs. You did what you could amai and we saw you pulling her so that she could come back home. You did your best and it affected us all that this woman has suffered as the child shouted that you do not buy me goods and do not look after me which she admitted today that she was lying. Your daughter said in her own words here that she was lying,” the First Lady said.
The rescued girl shared her tale and warned other young girls against falling into the same trap as hers.
“I warn other young girls out there against bedding men at a tender age. This can only be done when you come of age because as of now it is not acceptable. Munyaradzi is a gold panner and does not value education. No man will want a wife who is not learned. Munyaradzi would make me sleep in the same room with his wife,” she said amid sobs.
“I started dating a boy called Millard at 13. He is the one who first had sexual intercourse with me and when we did so, my mother took him to the police where he was arrested and brought before a court of law. He was ordered to perform community service and because my mother did not want me to be married at a tender age, she stopped our affair. When this happened, I then started dating Munyaradzi Musarurwa who was 31 as I was 13. I eloped to him and we first went to his relatives in Zvimba who advised me to go to his sister’s place in Norton since his wife occasionally visited them. I spent a week in Norton before he started renting a place for me. He later took me to his house. In no time, my mother went to court to report the matter and started asking me to go back home, but I flatly refused. Within a week, I received a call that Munyaradzi had been arrested. I started running away as my mother ran after me. This then made the issue public. I fell for Munyaradzi because he would prepare rice for me and potatoes. I am now pregnant and he is nowhere to be found. I am stuck but I ask for forgiveness from my mother whom I wronged and to all mothers out there. Today I have been invited by the First Lady who advised me to ask for forgiveness since I embarrassed my mother and lied to her. I advise others to wait for the time to be ripe before engaging in romantic affairs. On that clip which went viral, Munyaradzi had offered me a drink laced with a substance that made me resist and overpower my mother and I ask for forgiveness,” she said.
The First Lady gifted her mother with an assortment of foodstuffs and the girl was given maternity dresses as she could not fit properly the dress she was wearing because of pregnancy.
