Female Rapists' Case Grips the Country

Nqaba Matshazi

SOPHIE Nhokwara, a suspected female rapist, lists one of her favourite activities as driving around and Zimbabwean authorities believe this could be the key to solving a crime that seems to defy logic.
Nhokwara, her sister, Netsai and Rosemary Chakwizira have been charged with 17 counts of aggravated indecent assault on allegations that they preyed on unsuspecting male hitchhikers, whom they raped and harvested semen from.

It is alleged that the trio would drive around offering men lifts and later rape them and since Sophie's favourite pastime is driving around, authorities believe this could be a critical piece of evidence, in a crime that has baffled police for two years now.
The trio are reported to have been arrested after they tried to retrieve 31 used condoms following an accident in which Sophie's boyfriend, Thulani Ngwenya, is alleged to have run over and killed a pedestrian.
As if to illustrate how much the case has captured the country's collective imagination, the death of the pedestrian is on the back burner, as concentration is on the alleged rapists.

The quartet were arrested last week in Gweru, but they had to be moved to Harare, as the Midlands capital literally ground to a standstill, as hundreds of people rushed to the police station in the hope of catching a glimpse of the accused.
An identity parade was set up and the victims all identified the trio as responsible for the attacks.
But in their defence, the trio claim they are hardworking prostitutes and were too busy to get rid of the condoms, some of which were said to be more than half full, and the accident had given them an opportunity to do just that.

Neighbours in Mkoba claim the trio lived a lavish lifestyle and they now believe this was filthy lucre acquired from trade in semen.
Alleged female rapists have been on the prowl for a while, with cases ranging from being weird to outlandishly bizarre. In one case a man was allegedly threatened with a snake before being raped in Karoi, while others were simply drugged.
Several reasons have been proffered on why women would rape and collect semen from men, but all seem to agree that they are for ritual purposes.
Some claim that the semen was collected for sale in Dubai, where it fetched high prices.

Sophie and her co-accused have been remanded in custody till October 28 and were advised to apply to the High Court for bail.
Watch Ruparanganda, a professor of sociology at the University of Zimbabwe, told a news website that semen was associated with the regeneration of life, which would translate into business growth.
"People believe that sperm can make someone's luck improve," he said, claiming that unscrupulous businessmen were behind the sex attacks.
But some women have also come to the defence of the trio, while acknowledging that this was a strange case, they asked if it would be a crime for men to be found with breast milk.
While another said semen was good as both a facial cream and a hair fertiliser.