Defilements in Petauke, Eastern Zambia blamed on sex boosters

By DOREEN NAWA
STATISTICS show that defilement cases among male juveniles in Petauke are rife due to rampant use of sex boosters, it has been learnt.
Boys use sexual enhancers locally known as mvubwe, District Social Welfare officer Yoram Kaziya has said.

Mvubwe is sold openly in Petauke and other districts in the Eastern Province.
In the first quarter of this year (2014), the Social Welfare department in the district recorded 17 juvenile cases and these included defilement, burglary and theft, assault occasioning bodily harm (AOBH) and indecent assault.
Other cases were rape and stock theft.
Mr Kaziya said the Department of Social Welfare in the district has in the last few years dealt with cases of male juveniles defiling fellow juveniles.
“The cases of juveniles facing defilement cases are very rife in the district. We engage these offenders and they confess that they buy mvubwe and use it.  All of them told us that once they used the sexual enhancer and it works, then they would know where to go,” he said during a stakeholders’ sensitisation meeting organised by the Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf) in Petauke recently.
He said the increase in juveniles using sexual enhancers is because of cultural beliefs.
He also said that major challenges that communities face in the district include increasing levels of poverty, bad cultural practices, high illiteracy rates, low levels of community participation in development programmes, youth unemployment and gender imbalance in the ownership of means of wealth creation such as land and finances.
Mr Kaziya said these challenges impact negatively on the lives of children.
And Chief Nyamphande of Petauke district is concerned about the high number of juvenile pregnancies.
“Issues of early marriages and juvenile pregnancies are rampant in my area and the district as a whole,” Chief Nyamphande said.
He urged parents to stop forcing their children into early marriages as doing so could result in dire consequences.
“Parents who marry off their girl children at a tender age should be charged and punished so that the trend is put to a halt.  We also need to emphasise the need to educate young girls so they can attain their aspirations,” he said.
It is unlawful to get into marriage below the age of 21, but some girls are married off when they are as young as 13.
Getting reliable data on child marriages is difficult, but estimates show that almost half of Zambian women are married by the age of 18, one of the highest prevalence rates in the world.
Eastern Province has Zambia’s highest rate of girls married off before the age of 18. The rate is pegged at 50 percent.