Zanu PF MP abused 17 year old wife until she committed suicide

It’s no wonder they flushed out child rights activist Betty Makoni out of the country and into exile in the United Kingdom. Senior Zanu PF officials continue to abuse young girls and use their connections to avoid prosecution.

The latest case comes from Hurungwe where a 17 year old girl who was ‘married’ to 42 year old Zanu PF Member of Parliament for Magunje Franco Ndambakuwa committed suicide last week following constant brutal physical abuse. The MP accused the girl (4 months pregnant) of being ‘promiscuous.’

The MP committed statutory rape by sleeping with the girl when she was only 15 years old but as with all cases highlighted by Betty Makoni’s Girl Child Network, the MP simply married the girl under customary law to avoid prosecution. Back then he got the girl pregnant but the pregnancy was somehow aborted.

Reports say the girl who killed herself by taking poison was only buried when the Ndambakuwa paid two beasts and US$300 as roora (bride price), according to Shona tradition to the girl’s parents. The young girl was the MP’s third wife.

Challenged on why he beat up his young wife the Zanu PF MP could only say “What would you do if your wife sleeps with other men?” Further queried on why he slept with her when she was 15 years old he said, ‘If you are asking a girl out, do you ask for her age? Do you ask a girl to produce her birth certificate? She will obviously lie so that you just fall for her.”