By Brigton Chiseva
In a shocking incident, the Johanne Marange apostolic sect has been accused of trying to conceal the death of a teenage bride, suspected to be 13 years of age, who allegedly died due to pregnancy complications in Bhaki Village, Hwendedzo area of Chief Musara, Masvingo.
Masvingo Provincial Police Spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the incident and said investigations were underway.
“We have a report of a case where a girldied due to pregnancy complications, however, her age is yet to be ascertained and investigations are underway,” said Inspector Dhewa.
Bhaki Village head Trust Bake, confirmed the death to TellZim News. However, he expressed uncertainty about the age of the deceased as well, stating that she was one of the many wives of a sect member, but he didn’t know her exact position among the wives.
“I can confirm that we have such a case in my village, however, I do not stay in the village always so I do not know the child and even her position in the polygamous marriage, I just know that her alleged husband has many wives,” said Bake.
He went on to say the police were seized with the matter but he was aware that they violated the corpse by operating the dead body to remove the fetus before burying the two separately.
“According to our tradition, you cannot bury a pregnant person with the fetus in her, so they went on to separate the two but I do not know who exactly did the operation and how they did it. What I am sure of is that they were buried separately as per our norms,” said Bake.
Police sources revealed that the parents of the deceased claimed that she was 18 years old when she got married and 19 at the time of death, also alleging that she had no birth certificate.
“When the police visited the area to do investigations, the family claimed that she was 18 when she got married and died at the age of 19. They failed to prove that since she had no birth certificate.
“So the police are now investigating the matter to establish the number of children the deceased’s father had and ascertain the ages of each and see where the deceased fits. There are also high chances that they lied even about the name,” said the source.
Another source said the police needed to be more vigilant as it was difficult to penetrate the sect members to get information.
“The sect and family members are so secretive to the extent that no one from the local knows who even performed the operation, they all claim not to know anything but the incident happened within. So the police need to be very vigilant to establish the truth,” said the source.
The incident happened barely four years after an almost similar incident happened in Marange area that sent shockwaves across the country.
In 2021, 14 year old Anna Machaya was forced out of school while doing Form One in Mhondoro to get married to Evans Momberume.
This was despite the fact that according to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the legal age of consent for sexual activity is 16, while the minimum age for marriage is 18.
Machaya died while giving birth causing outrage among citizens and rights activists on social media. The United Nations in Zimbabwe issued a statement condemning the circumstances leading to the death of Anna Machaya.
The Hwendedzo incident sparked outrage and raised concerns about the treatment of young girls within the sect and the need for deterrent measures to be put in place to protect the girl child.