Minister Chikwinya denies distributing sex pills

Nyasha Chikwinya

HARARE – Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development Minister Nyasha Chikwinya has dismissed reports in the private media claiming that she distributed sex enhancing pills at a rally in Gokwe on Saturday.

It was reported that Chikwinya, who was the guest of honour at the rally, ordered youths to leave the meeting after her address and started distributing the pills to elderly men and women.

“I want all youths to leave. What I want to say now is an issue for the elders,” she was quoted saying. Its then claimed after giving them instructions for use, Chikwinya started distributing the blue pills with the help of Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena.

Addressing journalists in Harare on Thursday on preparations for the International Day for Rural Women, Minister Chikwinya said she was quoted out of context.

She said the private media was bent on tarnishing her image and the ministry. Chikwinya challenged the private media to produce a video clip to prove their case against her.

“I was attending an expo and rally in Gokwe where l discussed gender-based violence and issues to do with sexual reproductive health. We touched on various diseases such as prostate cancer and warned men against abusing drugs and alcoholic substances.”

Minister Chikwinya said she advised men in Gokwe that she was in the process of inviting a Chinese delegation comprising specialists in natural products to advise on the treatment of many ailments.

Zimbabwe, she said, would soon commemorate the International Day of Rural Women running under the theme “Empowering Rural Women for Sustainable Economic Growth”.

She said her ministry had set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee to investigate the causes of rape and sexual violence and proffer possible solutions.

“It is a great honour for Zimbabwe to be part of the international commemorations. This comes as the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) report of 2012 revealed that 80 percent of women live in the rural areas with 61 percent of them being farmers while 70 percent of them provide labour force in agriculture,” she said.

Rural women work 16 to 18 hours a day, spending at least 49 percent of their time on agricultural activities and 25 percent on domestic activities. The commemorations were adopted by the United Nations Conference for Women in Beijing in September 1995.