A LUSAKA family has refused to perform a ‘widow cleansing’ ritual on a woman after she refused to comply with their demands to sleep with an aged man three times.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AYQFXZ2U9/?mibextid=oFDknk
After her husband’s death, 34-year-old Violet Nankamba, a businesswoman and mother of two of Chingwere area was dealt with a huge blow when the funeral was moved from their home to the village of her husband’s family.
This is in a case where Nankamba initiated legal proceedings against her sister in law, Esther Chisulo aged 38 in an effort to regain her household possessions and seek clarity on the unjust treatment she received from her husband’s family.
Nankamba narrated before the Matero Local Court how her in-laws insisted that she sleeps with another man who is over 70 years as part of cleansing, a demand that she vehemently opposed due to its degrading nature.
She recounted that she was mandated by her in-laws to engage in sexual relations with the said man on the bed where her husband had passed away which belonged to his sister.
It was revealed that she was also instructed to continue the sexual act on her marital bed as part of the Lenje tradition.
She disclosed that her in-laws further had cut a piece of cloth from the coffin in which her husband’s body was laid and made her wear it.
Still trapped by their tradition, Nankamba’s in-laws took her underwear, leaving her confused and distressed especially that she was on her menstrual cycle when her husband died.
“I tried my best to convince the man from engaging in this ritual and told him that we could return to Lusaka and ask my in-laws to reconsider their decision. I begged him to talk to them and explain that we didn’t have to go through with this,” Nankamba explained.
Nankamba noted that her relatives refused to comply with the tradition, so her in-laws came and took everything that she and her husband had bought together, even the things he had purchased on his own.
“I told my in-laws that I could not bring myself to sleep with the old man so soon after my husband’s death firm so I was warned that I was no longer welcome in their home and whatever misfortune that may happen in my life, I should not seek refuge with them.”
She added that the threats continued to torment her.
However, Chisulo emphasised her limited knowledge of the tradition stating that she too was merely a bystander to the events that unfolded, pointing to her father as an individual who can provide more insight into the tradition.
When called upon to give his side of the story in court, the deceased’s father and Nankamba’s father in law, Enerst Chisulo, 60, admitted that whatever Nankamba was asked to do was part of the Lenje tradition but asserted that he would not have engaged in the same practice if he were in a similar situation of sleeping with someone younger than him.
Meanwhile, presiding over the case, Magistrate Harriet Mulenga adjourned the case to May 15, 2025, granting the defendant time to gather all the individuals involved in this act including the old man that Nankamba was asked to sleep with.
By Sharon Zulu
CAPTION: photo of the 70 year old man tasked to enjoy the fruits of the labour he never worked for.
Kalemba May 12, 2025
