By Chanda Chimba, III
In this article I want to talk about three things, homosexuality, prostitution and polygamy in Zambia. Whether we like it or not we have homosexuals, prostitutes and polygamists in our country and there is no need to pretend.
Let me start with homosexuals. There is an active case right now before the Magistrate Court in Kapiri Mposhi in which two young men stand accused of having carnal knowledge of each other against the order of nature. Simply put they are accused of practicing homosexuality which for now is against the law in Zambia. It is not the first time that such a case has been before the courts but this particular one has drawn some serious attention from some diplomatic missions accredited to Zambia.
When the matter came up on Monday June 23, 2014 it is reported that some members of the diplomatic corps actually gave interviews to the media on an active matter before the courts complaining about the slow pace at which the case is going and so on. Is this a breach of diplomatic etiquette? Well, may be it is because there appears to have been some sharp reaction from the Zambian government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary George Zulu.
The first world considers homosexuality a human right stating that those with such orientation must be accorded the same rights like every other human being. But what about prostitution, is this not an orientation too? What about polygamy, is it not an orientation also?
Moving to prostitution, which is having sex for money and is said to be the world’s oldest profession is rampant everywhere, Zambia not excluded. So most certainly may be it is also about time that we started hearing of people and organisations calling for the rights of prostitutes, male or female, being respected because that is their orientation.
Prostitution is said to be at different levels and is not only about the so called sex workers on Paseli road in Northmead, Omelo Mumba road in Rhodes Park, Nasser road near the Lusaka Play House and many other red light areas around the country.
But as far as I can stretch my memory I do not recall anyone in Zambia being brought before the courts of law for prostitution or soliciting sex which like homosexuality or having sex against the order of nature is a criminal offense. Is this an indication that we have turned a blind eye to this and have in some way accepted it as a way of life? Seriously, in the same way that there is propagation that homosexuality is a human right then so too is prostitution. If homosexuals have argued that they were born like that and would like to be respected for who they are then even prostitutes may argue that they were born that way. Polygamists too may also say they were born that way. This argument may not hold water as it is clear no one was born a homosexual, prostitute or polygamist.
As for polygamy, which is having more than one wife or husband, and is as old as humankind we learn that even in the Christian holy book, the Bible, great men married more than one wife. This is actually something that has continued to this day in many cultures, particularly in Africa, though not much is said about great women of those times having more than one husband. But again having more than one wife or husband is infact bigamy, a criminal offence.
Getting to the point right away, if the first world believe that the orientation of being attracted to someone of the same sex is a human right, then it must be argued that the orientation of wanting to have more than one wife or husband is also a human right and must not be criminalised. In Zambia, we normally do not hear of women having more than one husband but what has been culturally accepted as tradition is a man having multiple wives and this is common practice even today.
Unlike homosexuality which, strictly speaking, has never been accepted as a way of life in the traditional Zambian (African) set up, polygamy has or was. As for prostitution, this has always been frowned upon. Yes, there are a lot of homosexuals among us in Zambia today just as there are also many prostitutes and polygamists.
One thing for sure is that homosexuals and prostitutes have not come out in the open to profess their orientation whereas polygamists have always come out. Why is this so and of the three orientations which one would you rather be, homosexual, prostitute or polygamist?
Chanda CHIMBA, III Director & Executive Producer, Phibajo PBJ Productions, Lusaka, Zambia.