Harare man accused of raping women he suspected were lesbians as Zanu-PF official faces rape charges!
A 20-year-old Harare man has appeared in court accused of raping two women he suspected of being lesbians, with one of the complainants later discovered to be pregnant.
The accused, who denies the allegations, is facing two counts of rape. He told the court that the sexual encounters were part of an elaborate challenge intended to prove that the two women had sexual feelings for men.
The case was heard before Harare Regional Magistrate Sandra Mupindu. The State alleges that the incident took place on December 20 last year after the two women went to the accused’s home.
According to the account presented in court, the women exchanged greetings with the accused before he took the first complainant into his bedroom and locked the door from inside. The State alleges that he then raped her.
The accused later took the second woman into the bedroom, where he allegedly raped her as well.
In his defence, the man told the court that the complainants had always said they were lesbians and were known in their community “to be boyfriend and girlfriend”. He claimed that the two women had challenged him to prove that they were lesbians, and that the sexual encounters followed that challenge.
The matter came to light in January this year after the mother of one of the complainants noticed that her daughter was suffering from stomach pains. She took her to Damafalls Clinic in Ruwa, where medical staff confirmed that she was pregnant.
The mother questioned her daughter, who then revealed what had happened. An attempt was made to have the accused accept responsibility for the pregnancy, but it did not resolve the matter. The complainant’s mother subsequently reported the case to the police on February 4.
The court proceedings have placed renewed attention on the dangers faced by women whose sexual orientation is judged or targeted by other people. The allegations in the Harare case centre on the accused’s stated belief that he could disprove the women’s relationship by having sex with them.
The case is separate from another rape matter involving a senior ruling-party official in Harare. Kefas Maunganidze, a principal officer at the ZANU-PF headquarters, appeared before Harare Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa after being accused of raping his 22-year-old stepdaughter.
The State alleges that the incident occurred at about 7pm on August 27, 2026, at the family home. The complainant was said to be resting on a bed in her mother’s bedroom when Maunganidze entered while speaking on the telephone.
After a lengthy phone conversation, he allegedly began shouting at her about her sister’s graduation. The complainant remained silent, before Maunganidze allegedly used one hand to strangle her and the other to pull down her tracksuit bottoms. He is accused of pinning her face-up on the bed and sexually assaulting her without her consent.
The complainant later told her sister what had happened while she was bathing in the bathroom. Her sister alerted their parents, and the family accompanied her to Mabelreign Police Station to make a report. Police later attended the scene and arrested Maunganidze.
Maunganidze was granted US$500 bail. The court proceedings have brought the conduct of a prominent political official under scrutiny at a time when cases of sexual violence continue to involve people within family and community settings.
The two cases have also emerged as Zimbabwe’s government begins reviewing the legal and administrative position of intersex people. A high-level breakfast meeting in Harare brought together Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Edgar Moyo, senior officials, civil society groups, health experts and representatives of the intersex community.
The review followed a constitutional court challenge involving seven applicants, including two minors. The applicants are seeking recognition of intersex people as a distinct category under Zimbabwean law, provisions for appropriate identity documents, procedures for changing sex markers on official records and protection for intersex children from non-consensual, non-essential surgery.
Ziyambi said the process began after the government received the court challenge and referred it to the Attorney-General. “After that we decided as a Ministry that we need to undertake research,” he said.
He said the research and the meeting were intended to help the government understand the legal and administrative problems experienced by intersex people. “The research and this meeting are part of work in progress,” Ziyambi said. “We have presentations and testimonies and lived experiences, and we believe that out of the meeting, we will be able to come up with concrete measures.”
The consultation found that official documentation systems largely recognise only male and female classifications. That creates difficulties for intersex people seeking birth certificates, national identity documents, passports and other records when their biological characteristics do not match the categories available on government forms.
The problems extend beyond documentation. Participants raised barriers affecting access to education, health care, banking, employment and voting. Families can also struggle to understand intersex variations, particularly when physical characteristics become apparent later in childhood.
“There is real gap in our statutes to address those issues. Because we are basically classified as male and female and then there are people falling in between,” Moyo said.
He said stigma and cultural beliefs had helped keep intersex issues hidden and contributed to families receiving little support. “Testimonies were heartbreaking, noting that parents may not always know or may not understand the issue early enough, particularly when traits emerge later,” he said.
Moyo said government must “live beyond culture” and “be adaptive” when developing support systems.
Intersex people are born with natural variations in sex characteristics, including chromosomes, hormones, reproductive anatomy or genitalia, that do not fit typical medical definitions of exclusively male or female. Intersex status is distinct from sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Justice Ministry is expected to validate the research findings, prepare legal and policy recommendations for Cabinet, continue consultations with intersex people and civil society organisations, and provide feedback to stakeholders.
The rape cases and the intersex rights review concern different legal questions, but they have unfolded against a wider background of discrimination and vulnerability affecting people whose sex, gender or sexual orientation does not conform to social expectations. Zimbabwean law does not criminalise sex between women, although women may face arrest for acts labelled as indecent. Same-sex marriage remains illegal, and people perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex can face harassment, violence, sexual abuse, extortion and exclusion from services.
For the two women in the Harare rape case, the immediate issue before the court is the allegation that their private relationship was used as a justification for sexual violence. For the complainant in the separate case involving Maunganidze, the charge concerns an alleged assault inside a family home. Both matters now form part of a growing public record of sexual violence cases being reported in Harare courts.
The proceedings will continue as the courts consider the evidence in each case.