I laughed my lungs out reading President Mugabe’s words to encourage women of Zimbabwe to have babies. “We want more children. Give us more children you women. Muri kurambirei navo? Mimba makapirwei? Aiwa musanyime (Why are you refusing to have children when you have the wombs. Do not be stingy).

Many have attacked the President for encouraging this in such an economy. Talk of HIV, poor health care facilities, unemployment … the list is endless. Some have affirmed his words saying increased numbers will mean increased strength for the nation. I was really touched in the sense that the President’s ‘joke’ portrays the African belief that failure to have a child should be blamed on the woman.There are many childless marriages in the country and in some where adoption is not an option for them, the husband remarries another wife to bear children for him. But who said a childless marriage means the woman is barren or is at fault?

This entry was posted on August 20th, 2012 at 1:53 pm by Elizabeth Nyamuda and is filed under Reflections, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.