Kwekwe (New Ziana) –Two men, one from Gweru and the other from Kwekwe, the Midlands province, have been arrested on charges of committing sodomy and are expected to appear in court soon.

Praise Mpofu (25) of Ridgemont in Gweru and James Mapawu (40) of Narans Building in Kwekwe allegedly had anal sex between July and September with the latter believing all along that the former was a woman.

All hell broke loose when Mapawu made a report to the police after one sexual encounter between the two went terribly wrong.

Midlands police spokesperson Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko confirmed the arrest of the duo and said they would appear in court soon facing sodomy charges.

Insp Mahoko said it is alleged that during the month of July on an unknown date, Mapawu met Mpofu who was dressed and behaving like a woman at a nightclub in Kwekwe.

“Mapawu proposed love to Mpofu who agreed and they began to stay together at Mapawu’s residence where they had anal sexual intercourse several times. On September 7, as the two were having anal sex Mpofu allegedly had an erection and it came to light that he was a man and had been disguising as a woman all along, resulting in a misunderstanding between the two,” he said, the matter was reported to the police and the two men were arrested.

“Investigations are going on. The crime of sodomy where men engage in sexual acts with other men is a serious crime according to the laws of the country,” said Insp Mahoko.

According to the Criminal Codification Amendment Act, sodomy is any “act involving contact between two males that would be regarded by a reasonable person as an indecent act”.

Zimbabwe also does not recognise same-sex marriage or civil unions.

In 2013, the Zimbabwe Constitution was amended to define marriage as being between a man and a woman while in May 2019, the government approved amendments to Zimbabwean marriage law, which banned both child marriages and same-sex marriages, aligning it with the Constitution.

New Ziana