'80% of Bulawayo men who patronise bars and the red light districts are gay'

CALL it double dipping!

Panic has gripped the Bulawayo community after shocking and controversial statistics revealed that 80 percent of Bulawayo men that patronise bars and the red light districts are sleeping with other men.

The shocking revelations were made by Bulawayo male sex workers to a local media outlet.

Outraged Bulawayo men took to micro-blogging site Twitter to express their disgruntlement and distaste at the allegations. Some people made a joke of it while most women were panicking that they could be sharing their partners with men.

"We are having trouble dealing with omakhwapheni (small houses), and then we have to worry about other men at men's conference? The drinking buddies! It just can't be!" said one Lisa Khanye on Twitter.

Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) said they were aware of the statistics that have almost got Bulawayo Twitter crashing. They, however, said they could neither dismiss nor confirm the said figures.

In a statement to B-Metro, GALZ  regional director Teddy Munyimani said his organisation was aware of the statistics mentioned in the allegations, made online.

He said such claims would be credible if backed by evidence from a study.

"Statistics have to be backed by evidence, maybe of a study concluded of which we are not aware of any that has been done or its results shared or published," said Munyimani.

He, however, highlighted that he would not dismiss the claims as sex was a private matter and hence it was difficult to really know for sure what happens behind closed doors.

"It is difficult to establish statistics of men in sexual relations, sex is a private matter and we are not in the business nor would we want to advocate for the policing of people's bedrooms," he said.

Some Twimbos were in denial, saying there was no such thing as male prostitution in the city of kings.

However, B-Metro spoke to its network of the male sex workers community, who claimed to have many clients that were heterosexual during the day.

The male sex workers are however, not the ones behind the 20 percent revelation, which is alleged to be part of a study being carried out by a local organisation.

One of the male sex workers who spoke to B-Metro, Ayanda, said most men were in denial of having a fetish for other men.

"I have been in this business for a long time and people do not mind me anymore. However, the interesting part about my job is that I get to see the different side of people that other people never get to see.

"I am popular in clubs in Harare and Bulawayo and I often have clients that are married. The men are straight and heterosexual during the day but it is a totally different story after hours. I am happy because they enjoy my services but it sometimes beats me why they live a life of pretence during the day," said Ayanda.

"When these men are with me, they get to live their fantasy and that is something that they will never get to experience in their marriages, as they are just for cover up," said Ayanda.

Ayanda alleged that some very prominent pastors of popular Pentecostal churches were some of his regular clients.

He said the charismatic religious leaders were some of his best paying clients as they also took him away for holidays while pretending to be on business trips.

"Their wives are very comfortable with them having male personal assistants but they do not know that I am the side guy. I get annoyed though when the big men start wanting to own me. I do not date, I am in business. I also have my boyfriend and he supports my hustle."

Sources said the statistics stem from a study that is being carried out by a local organisation. However, details were still sketchy as the study was not yet complete.

If there is some truth to the allegations, it looks like the city is surely in crisis.