Women raped 'long distance'

2004-10-05 12:50

Riot Hlatshwayo and Oris Mnisi

Bushbuckridge - Limpopo women are claiming they're being raped "long distance".

The women in Edinburgh village near Bushbuckridge say their attackers are using muti called Mtshotshaphansi that allows men to rape the women without being physically present.

"I don't sleep at night because I keep on feeling as if a man is having sex with me, causing me to reach a climax and I become very tired," Hleziphi Ngwenya told a public meeting at the kraal of local induna Mngoni Malamule.

When her fellow villagers hooted with laughter, she said. "It may seem funny, but I experienced the problem at least once a week."

Ngwenya, 29, says she's told her husband, who is looking for work in Gauteng, about the problem.

Julia Khumalo, 30, says she's raped even when her husband is asleep next to her.

"My husband was fast asleep next to me one night but I had a sexy feeling and it felt like a penis was penetrating me," she said.

She said she never believed in Mtshotshaphansi until it happened to her.

Pinky Gumede, 35, said she eventually went to a doctor at Tinstwalo hospital for help, and he said she had a growth on her cervix and gave her pills to take.

The induna warned that if the incidents didn't stop, he would track down the men responsible.

A local sangoma, Daniel Ngobeni, confirmed that Mtshotshaphansi existed. He also said it could be that a Tokoloshe is raping the women.

A senior researcher at the Centre For Health Policy at Wits University, Marion Stevens, said she had also heard of Mtshotshaphansi, but that it was possible the women were having vivid sexual dreams.

- African Eye