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Warns Tomana could be ‘kicked out’
Felex Share Harare Bureau
FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe yesterday said people who believe children as young as 12 years can consent to sex should be fired from their posts as they were inimical to national development and the proper upbringing of children.
In remarks that appeared to be directed at Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana, who recently sparked outrage after saying children can consent to sex, the First Lady — who runs an orphanage and has strong views on child abuse — said people should not make statements and then turnaround and claim they were misquoted.
Tomana’s remarks drew the ire of child rights defenders and President Robert Mugabe last week also drew a line in the sand saying his government would soon move to outlaw marriages with persons below the age of 18.
“We need people who talk sense not to say I was misquoted. Why say it in the first place?” the First Lady said in Kadoma, speaking at the commissioning of earth moving equipment worth $3 million and a ground-breaking ceremony for the Macsherp Housing Scheme.
Play the audio clip below
“We don’t want people who get carried away while at work. If you don’t know what to say, just shut up, go home and drink tea with bread in silence.”
To wild applause from thousands of people gathered, she added: “We don’t want our country to be tainted in that way. That’s madness, and that person should be fired because his behaviour is rotten.
“If you see someone saying that [a 12-year-old can consent to sex], he’s a pervert. He’s the one in the business of abusing children because a rational person, someone who’s in charge of his mental faculties would never say that. Tinokubhutsura isu vanaMai Mugabe kana zvatisvikira [We’ll kick you out].”
After receiving brickbats from all corners, Tomana has dug himself into a hole, threatening The Chronicle, The Herald and The Sunday Mail insisting that Zimpapers was in a conspiracy to get him fired.
When offered an opportunity to clarify his recorded statement, an audio of which is online, he refused.
A furious First Lady said paedophiles had no place in society and reverse the gains made by President Mugabe in encouraging children to go to school.
President Mugabe has encouraged even members of the apostolic sect to send their children to school and seek medication.
“After all this, someone says one can sleep with a 12-year-old. That is foolish!” the First Lady said yesterday.
“We don’t want that. We want to raise our children in a normal way and they should go to school.”
Tomana told The Chronicle that girls who are out of school, even as young as nine, should be allowed to think “in the direction of getting married”.
He said: “It’s assumed that the girl child’s independent decisions start at an age that those that are speaking want to fix [16], but if you go out there you’ll find out that some of them may want to start out [having sex] in life early.
“We’ve nine-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds who aren’t not in school, who aren’t doing anything for example. What are we saying to them? Then we say you can’t even do this [have sex], when the environment is not giving them alternative engagements? What are we talking about?
“… to simply say ‘no such and such conduct for any girl say below the age of 16’, I think we’ve not asked ourselves what we’re saying about that girl who would rather prefer to lead their life in the direction of getting married.”
BELOW IS THE FULL, UNEDITED AUDIO OF WHAT TOMANA SAID:
CHRONICLE SAYS
PROSECUTOR General Johannes Tomana made controversial comments about child marriages and the age of consent on a visit to Bulawayo on June 18.
The Chronicle and The Herald reported his comments a day later, including a full text of what he said and an audio of the interview is available on the websites of The Chronicle and our sister paper, The Herald.
Tomana has subsequently, in an interview with ZiFM, claimed that there was a conspiracy among Zimpapers publications — The Chronicle, The Herald and The Sunday Mail — to get him fired from his job. He claims he was misquoted, adding that he was merely “interpreting the law”.
This is not true.
Tomana, instead of retracting his statement and apologising for his unacceptable comments, has chosen the course of grandstanding and issuing threats. The best advice ever given is that when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. It has not yet reached him, it appears.
As the timeline of stories published by The Chronicle below clearly shows, our campaign to get child molesters to be given jail time was actuated by a deep sense of public duty following a decision by Plumtree Magistrate Livard Philemon to give a 19-year-old man community service for impregnating a promising Grade 7 pupil aged 13. Her father, a widower, informed us that he had made huge sacrifices to send her to school with the hope that she would do well in her studies, get a good job and look after him in turn.
This child molester, who was employed by the father as a herdsman, was given 315 hours community service at the school of his victim – putting dozens of other vulnerable girls at risk. Tomana would later tell us he saw “no harm” in this practice by magistrates. It troubles us greatly, as it does millions of parents.
Prior to the Tomana interview, we engaged MPs, the Prisons boss, the Chief Magistrate and the Attorney General. The Chief Magistrate would not readily answer our questions, asking to be interviewed at a later date.
Tomana, as someone whose prosecutors carry the duty to ensure child molesters are put away for a long time, visited Bulawayo — not by Zimpapers’ scheduling — and two of our court reporters and a StarFM reporter interviewed him.
What Tomana said is now a matter of public record as the audio is freely available online. We have also published the full text of that exchange, which is also available online. The public can decide, as it appears to have decided, who is not telling the truth.
It was never about Tomana, until he made his unfortunate comments. Once he did, it became not only about the protection of the girl child but questions swelled around his suitability as the point-man in ensuring that child sex predators are locked away for their crimes. He has been found wanting, and this is not our problem.
Timeline of stories published by
The Chronicle on sex with children:
FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015: Herdsman impregnates boss’s daughter, 12 … BUT JUDGE LETS HIM GO FREE
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2015: The Chronicle coverage spurs NGO into action …Bailout for Bulilima teenager
THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2015: Courts “set” age of consent to sex at 12 # Rapists’ licence to abuse teens # Demands for law reforms grow
THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2015: Alex Magaisa – The law of consent
FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2015: Courts send child molesters to schools
Interviewed – Chief Superintendent Social Ndanga, the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Officer Commanding Matabeleland Region
Attorney General Prince Machaya
Chief Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said he was unable to respond to our inquiries for some days because he was not at work
MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (MDC, Umzingwane)
Bulawayo East MP Thabitha Khumalo (MDC-T)
FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015: LET THEM HAVE SEX, MARRY…Tomana says 12-year-olds CAN consent
[Tomana interviewed during a trip to Bulawayo visiting prosecutors]
FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015: The interview: Johannes Tomana [Full Text]
FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015: AUDIO: Tomana on age of consent [Online]
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015: IT CAN’T: NATION TELLS TOMANA … PG backlash over child sex consent
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015: Child sex is wrong, Mr Tomana
SATURDAY, JUNE 20: Child sex: What the parents think
SATURDAY, JUNE 20: Alex Magaisa: Tomana out of order on law of consent
MONDAY, JUNE 22: Tomana refuses to clarify controversial child sex report
TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015: Girl, 12, raped, dad drops charges