9 year old in-line for marriage as replacement for 14 year old Memory who died during childbirth

The devastating incident of Memory Machaya caused outrage all over social media. It gave rise to awareness over issues of child marriages that are still in occurrence in Zimbabwe. Memory was said to have been forced out of school and given to a man of the Apostolic Sect to be his wife. She later died during childbirth at an apostolic gathering.

One would think that this would be a lesson to parents who advocate for child marriages. Unfortunately, so far it seems as though even Memory’s parents might not have learnt a lesson.

According to a report by the Manica Post, the parent of the deceased 14 year old are said to be planning to give Memory’s little sister who is 9 years old to Evans Momberume. Evans was the husband of Memory and the alleged father of the child she was giving birth to when she died.

This replacement process is said to be done in accordance with the chigaramapfihwa tradition. This tradition is when a husband who has lost his wife is given another to replace her from the wife’s family.

Meanwhile, various groups are still calling upon the relevant authorities to arrest Momberume for impregnating a minor and the church leaders for Memory’s death.

The ZRP issued out an official statement underlying the action that they will take in relation to Memory’s case.

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