Father Hlakanipha Mbongolwane, hlaks1980@gmail.com
MANGWE District in Matabeleland South Province is a rainbow district. While it is predominantly Kalanga-speaking, it is home to people from all walks of life. It is famed for amacimbi (mopane worms) and is strategically positioned with three borders — Matsilotje, Plumtree and Maitengwe.
However, the district’s proximity to border points and its mining activities have brought serious social challenges to its collective soul.
Admittedly, each generation faces its own demons, but adopting a “see no evil, hear no evil” approach to the rise in teenage pregnancies would be a grave omission.
Many factors have contributed to the surge in teenage pregnancies in Mangwe, one of which is restlessness.
Restlessness, in this context, refers to an excessive hunger for experience — an overindulgence not in food, but in the desire to “drink too much out of life”.
“We only live once mfundisi,” was the slogan during the festive season, and consequently, church pews were empty.
It is not that people had anything against God or the Church. During this period, people are busier, distracted and restless. Religion is perceived as anti-sex, anti-enjoyment, anti-creativity and anti this world. This disdain — this anti-church sentiment within a popular culture of enjoyment — is a tragedy for Mangwe.
Beyond the rejection of religious authority, secular authority is no exception. At a funeral in one village, Headman Godzi lamented that one of the local watering holes was hosting strip tease shows for young people. In Mangwe’s permissive social culture, Headman Godzi, like John the Baptist, was but “a voice crying in the wilderness”. The disdain for any external force — secular or religious — that attempts to regulate absolute freedom is deeply worrying.
Schooling delays sexual activity, but when children fail to attend school, the risks grow. For example, Ludo, aged 18, already has three children. During her school years, she walked 15 kilometres to school before eventually dropping out. Mangwe envisages a future where schools are only five kilometres apart; a future where children grow up with their biological parents and education is free.
Such a future is within reach — one where drugs and alcohol do not steal dreams; where communities shun teenage pregnancy; where people hold together, become less restless and find peaceful rest.
“Nothing is impossible with God.” But we pay a heavy price when we insist on managing everything alone, wanting to worship God on our own terms.
Without church and social values, the community is in danger. The thin line between enjoyment and discipline becomes blurred. Restlessness grows. People struggle to act, behave or rest properly.
Mangwe hopes for a future free of teenage pregnancy — a future of creative days, restful nights and enduring peace with God.
Every community has a collective soul — a set of values, belief systems and disciplines that are non-negotiable. No one has the luxury of choosing whether to uphold them. They lie at the heart of a people.
Adherence to these values and habits can lead to integration or disintegration. To lose one’s soul is to become unglued; to fall apart.
A healthy collective soul keeps a people together. It gives them a sense of who they are, where they come from and where they are going.
When we no longer know who we are, when we scatter in all directions with no purpose, and when we tolerate a culture of teenage pregnancy, then we have lost our collective soul.
*Father Hlakanipha Mbongolwane is a priest in the Archdiocese of Bulawayo based at St Anne Mission, Brunapeg. He writes in his personal capacity.
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