Of promiscuity, love potions and traditional healers

PROMISCUITY just like prostitution is as old as the human race itself. These  are two moral ills that society has always tried to find ways to abort yet they still remain.

The moral ills have seen a puzzling upsurge in the number of divorce cases and have led many couples to seek the services of traditional healers, all in a desperate bid to save their unions from collapsing.

In a week-long survey by Sunday Leisure, in an endeavour to untangle this trending perplexity of promiscuity, ‘‘locking'' and love potions, it was discovered that it was mostly women who seek the services of traditional healers, as it was the quickest and easiest method to stop their spouses from philandering.

In a series of interviews with stakeholders of society, particularly churches, traditional healers and the elderly folk, it was noted that the reason people resorted to seeking such services was that they had lost touch with tradition and faith.

"Back in the day it was taboo for people, regardless of gender to go out in search of herbs and traditional healers to solve promiscuity. Polygamous marriages were common, most of us came from such families and surprisingly we all got along. Nowadays, perhaps because of this issue of Westernisation people have lost touch with their traditions and culture. Even in the Bible you would read about polygamous marriages," said one elderly lady from Makokoba suburb who requested anonymity.

She added that young women of today lack the qualities of being good wives and taking care of their husbands and have resorted to cunning and sneaky methods in an effort to cover up their bedroom deficiencies.

"These young women think they know it all yet they don't. Men have always been known to have mistresses or several wives. It is an inevitable phenomenon and characteristic which can never be changed. As young women we were taught to accept it and we found it very normal to have more than one mother, as we came from such upbringings," she said.

She said all women needed to save their marriages adding that this could only be achieved by taking good care of their husbands and behaving in the manner they used to while they were still dating.

"It's all about keeping the spark alive. If you were able to warm bathing water for your man, give him a well-cooked and warm meal then what stopped you from doing so? Men are very easy-going creatures and are easily enticed by such trivial things. Turning to using such black magic is a little bit too out of the ordinary and it has repercussions. It is not good at all to be going to such extents of locking one another or whatever you call it. It is pure witchcraft and once you do it you are an advocate of the devil," she said.

Another traditional healer based in Makokoba, said locking was a phenomenon that was too much out of the ordinary but many people had resorted to using it as a method to save their marriages.

"Locking is too much of a harsh method to use, what if the person that locks these people dies then what do they do?" asked Mr Johannes Msipa.

A pastor from a Pentecostal church, said people should be encouraged to pray as only God was able to change a person's behaviour.

"Of course promiscuity has been and will always be a problem in relationships. It is one phenomenon that we will never understand. Even in the Bible it was there and it is a curse that is there to stay. One prayer that is common among the many women that congregate at my church and those that seek assistance through prayer, is that of preventing their husbands from philandering. Many have even confessed to seeking assistance from traditional healers but in most cases nothing would change," he said.

Since the discovery of Samanyika who has become somewhat of a celebrity, women, particularly those in their early 20s to late 30s, have thronged the Sunday News offices in search of the healer's address and phone number.

Some, who have been interviewed, said they didn't care about the consequences of locking as long as they kept their husbands and boyfriends to themselves.

"My husband had a girlfriend who got him locked and since then the spark in our love and sex life has dwindled. I really need to see this man so that he may at least give me something to reignite the fire my husband and I once had," said a woman from Harare.