15 January 2022
Vimbayi Mahachi
Last year 14 year old Anna Machaya was married off to a church member and later died giving birth at the church’s shrine.
Anna was given to Hatirarami Momberume (25) by her parents as per church’s customs.
The family and Homberume are members of the white clothed Johane Marange Apostolic sect.
Anna Machaya’s parents, Edmore Machaya (45) the father and her mother Shy Mabika (36) were dragged to court after investigations proved that they had broken the legal age of consent law.
The legal age if adulthood in Zimbabwe is 18 yet the age of sexual consent is 16.
The parents were jailed for nine months each after being convicted on charges of defeating or obstruction of the course of justice by Kwekwe magistrate Samukeliso Gumbo.
The case which was on roll last Wednesday had the Magistrate conditionally suspend the sentences to spare the parents from spending time in prison.
Three months were scrapped on condition that they do not do the same offence within five years and another month was wiped out for good behaviour and Magistrate Gumbo imposed ZWL$60 000 fines in lieu of the remaining five months.
The young adolescent’s case made waves last year in many media houses including those outside the country as well as most social media platforms. Human Rights and Women Rights advocates were appalled by the matter, with some taking interest to ensure that justice prevailed.
Anna Machaya breathed her last on July 16 last year from excessive bleeding, hours after she gave birth at a shrine of the Johanne Marange Apostolic sect near Mutare. The ignorance The the sect’s followers including her parents cost Anna’s life. Medical attention from a proper medical institution could have spared young girl’s life.
In pursuit of building the case, police opened an inquiry in which the parents chose to feed the law enforcers with false information right from the name to age of their child.
They lied through their teeth that their child was named Memory Machaya born on January 2 in 1999 which would make her 22 when she died.
In actual sense, Memory was elder sister to Anna.
All these lies were conjured up in a bid to escape jail time as they realised that it was on their plate.
Evidence of the girl’s real particulars was noted after a copy of her birth certificate was obtained by the police at Wanganui High School.
The document proved that it was actually Anna Machaya born on the 5th of July 2006 who had been married off and later died, not Memory as alleged by the parents.
Anna was forced to drop out of school whilst doing Form 2 after falling pregnant.
Anna had been married off to 25 year old Hatirarami Momberume alias Evans Michael Momberume, a member of the Johanne Marange Apostolic sect which is situated at Mafararikwa village under Chief Marange. Child marriages are rampant in the sect.
The public awaits with interest of the sentence that will be meted to Anna’s husband as he has been charged with murder.
When Anna’s case was exposed it angered many as it emerged that there are however numerous cases of under aged girls who are married off by their parents in some rural areas but nothing is being done, by the police and the communities involved.
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