A scam has been unearthed in Mambwe Town , Easter province where teenage girls as young as 15 years are allegedly cohabiting with boys.

Oftenly, this illegal union is with blessings of the ‘ young wives” parents or guardians who are mostly impoverished.

This has raised a crisis in the area as these same ‘ young wives’ are not impregnated but get infected  by sexually transmitted infections ( STIs) such as syphilis and gonorrhea , among others. 

Confirming the bizarre development to ZANIS in an interview, Mambwe District Child Protection Committee chairperson Weston Phiri said  that yes a number of teenage girls are cohabiting in boys’ houses in Chimulambe area in Mphomwa Ward.

Stating that it is saddening to learn of the disturbing development, Mr Phiri said there was a need for his committee to quickly move in and stop the ” early marriages”  in the named community.

He revealed that the committee had plans of visiting the area and holding a community sensitisation meeting with parents, guardians, girls and boys.

Mr Phiri also observed that  parents or guardians also had a role to play in such occurrences.

“Due to skyrocketing poverty levels in some of these communities, it is depressing to learn that some parents are the ones who encourage some of these children to engage in wrong vices just to get some financial benefits,” he said.

Mr Phiri said it was because of such happenings that some communities had quite a huge number of ‘junkies’ roaming the streets and attacking people.

He added that not only were they at risk of being impregnated at a tender age, but the teenagers also risked contracting sexually transmitted diseases.