Matanda, home of luxury, unsafe sex and hookers

When I visited Albino Mdemu on the evening of November 25 last year, he had just finished solving a relationship dispute. The case in which a woman was being accused of over-staying in her companion’s house is just one among the many cases that Mdemu deals with from time to time.

The chairperson of Matanda small scale mining area in Mufindi district’s Ihanzutwa village has seen it all. He receives such cases sometimes on a daily basis. Cases of women fighting over a man, men fighting over a woman, betrayal, you name it. Since he assumed power in November 2013 as the hamlet’s chairperson, Mdemu has handled countless relationship cases.

“Things are very tough here. About 75 per cent of the cases reported are violence-based,” says Mdemu.

Being a small-scale mining settlement, Matanda consists of mostly immigrants who come to the area to try their luck on gold mining. Women too, mainly prostitutes flock the area, also in search of greener pastures. The area’s population which initially stood at 1,174 people has gone up to more than 5,000 people.

Because of this, Matanda is known for unsafe sexual practices and short time relationships. While some women sell their bodies to the miners, others go the extra mile by moving in with them with the aim of easily milking them of all their income.

Mdemu says following the increase of abuse incidences among the cohabiting partners, he thought it would be wise to come up with a solution. Contract-based marriages perhaps could solve the never-ending domestic abuse cases, he thought.

He embarked on a campaign to sell his idea to the area residents but none seemed interested. “I campaigned for this at public meetings several times but the response was negative. In the assumed contract marriages, partners would agree on the time frame of the relationship, and how to share property earned during their time together,” says Mdemu who owns a makeshift guest house in the area.

Mdemu says his intention was to simplify life in the area and avoid the likelihood of ending up with fatherless and street children as a result of the temporary marriages which are the norm in the area.

While no one bought Mdemu’s idea, abuse cases escalated with some people getting severely injured in the fights. Mdemu did not give up however. He has come up with a different strategy to keep the fights in check. He patrols the area at night by visiting different clubs to ensure no one is engaging in fights.

While Mdemu cracks his head to think of ways to bring harmony among couples in Matanda, promiscuity goes on as if there was no Aids.

Perhaps the miners who thought Mdemu might have been day-dreaming by introducing the idea of contract marriages are not to blame. There is no true love in this area. Getting love here depends on the size of a man’s wallet.

There is even a slogan borrowed from bongo fleva artist Belle 9’s song Nilipe nisepe, which literary means (pay me up, I need to go). Yes. You have to pay for a woman’s service quickly so she may go hunt for another client.

Wallet size matters

Money talks here. A man can get any woman he wants provided he is loaded. According to Tatu Sanga, a business woman in Matanda, women in this hamlet can smell money kilometres away. They can tell which man is loaded, which man is broke and which man is new in the area.

“Luxury is everything in Matanda. And as is the norm in mining areas, unsafe sex is rife. Most women here are single. They are here for commercial purposes,” says the 27-year-old mother of one.

These women confide in Tatu that they did not come to Matanda for marriage but to do business. Some say they left husbands and children back home,” says Tatu.

She says there are women from almost every region in Tanzania. To prove Tatu’s story, I visited one of the pubs in the area. I counted more than 15 barmaids in this particular pub, whom I later learnt were both barmaids and prostitutes.

A beautiful barmaid whom I shall refer to as Anastazia approached me holding playing cards in her hand. She asked me what drink I needed and if I needed extra service. She sat at a nearby table after she brought my drink.

I later called Anastazia and asked her for extra service (sex). She initially told me she could only be available for afew hours as she had to return home to her husband whom she said was at work at that time. She had a three-year-old baby who was sleeping in one of the nearby guest houses.

“If you are okay with the arrangement, then tell me how much you will pay me,” she asked me as she counted the playing cards in her hands, ready to hand them over to her colleagues to keep for her. The cards signify the number of drinks a barmaid has served and so they are paid according to the number of drinks they sell.

I told her I had Sh5,000 for the quickie commonly known as ‘show time’ in Matanda. She turned down the offer asking me to add another Sh5,000. She reasoned that from this amount, she was going to pay between Sh2,000 and Sh3,000 for a room in a guest house.

When we were done with the negotiation, she went to ask a colleague to come continue selling drinks for her so she could give me the extra service. Unfortunately, none of her colleagues was available as all of them were serving clients in nearby guest houses. There was no way she was going to leave the pub unattended.

Four men in a day

I was curious to find out why Anastazia joined the dangerous prostitution business. Like many would say, she told me it was because of the difficult life she was living after separating from her husband in December, 2013.

“It is because of life my brother. No respectful woman like me with a three-year-old child would engage in this business…once I get a committed husband, I will change and live like a respectable married woman,” she told me.

Anastazia says she has gone through alot in the one year that she has been involved in prostitution. She says only God has rescued her from the harsh times.

In a day, she says can sleep with four different men without any of them recognising she has been ‘used.’ Even though many women here use work places such as bars to engage in prostitution business, their employers claim to not entertain the vice at all.

Mr Ramson Chaula, the owner of Kabaka Classic Pub for example, says he is not aware that ‘show time’ (quickies) take place in his bar. He says whenever he finds out that a bar maid is engaged in the business, they immediately get sacked.

“Whenever I bring bar attendants here, most customers turn them into their wives, something that causes inconveniences. A customer may buy drinks and sleep with a barmaid today but the following day, he would find her with someone else.” This he says creates jealousy and you know what happens next.

Here to do business

Mr Chaula adds that he once received a complaint from a customer who was served a beer with condom smell, a sign that the attendant had just had sex. He suspended the attendant from duty and gave her a strict warning that that should not happen again.

“Whoever comes to work for me, be it a man or a woman, I always tell them that Matanda is home of Aids and so they should play it safe by protecting themselves,” he says.

Fidelis Kidasi, the Ihanzutwa Village Executive Officer says women in the mines are so rude and don’t listen to anyone’s advice. He says they normally have multiple partners.

“They don’t fear anything. Not even Aids and you should forget about getting a life partner here. They always tell me that they are not here for marriage and that no one can force them to permanently live with a man,” he says.

He adds that because of the grave situation, the Mufindi District Council came up with a project of supplying condoms to businessmen and miners around the area. You know what? The boxes of condoms didn’t last as long as the officials had anticipated.

“I remember they brought about 10 big boxes of condoms but they were finished within a week and we had to ask for more,” Kidasi recalls.

The impact of the temporary relationships and unsafe sex is evident at the village health centre where about two thirds of the people visiting the facility are infected with sexually transmitted diseases.

A nursing assistant at Ihanzutwa health Centre, Wendi Gunefu, says in every 30 people who visit the facility in a day, 20 are infected with STDs such as gonorrhea and syphilis.

“The majority of the people from the mines have STDs, too many of them. The number could be higher. We can only manage to test just a few of them due to inadequate test kits. But I can assure you the situation is worse,” Wendi, 25, says.

Despite receiving patients with preliminary signs of STDs, the supply of drugs at the health centre is limited because of insufficient budget to purchase the drugs. This forces people to buy medicines in pharmacies surrounding the mines.

When matters get worse, patients are usually referred either to the Sadani Ward hospital or Igomaa health centre.

The number of people suffering from STDs in Matanda could be higher since many opt for self-medication and others seek the service of traditional healers. There are also those who don’t seek service at all until they can hide no more.

Maneno Muhuphu, a businessman speaks of a friend who had syphillis and remained untreated for nearly a month. He was too ashamed to reveal his little secret to the world. The disease nearly destroyed his private parts.

The availability of money and the high demand for sex by the miners in Matanda attracts scores of women to the area. The majority of these women rent rooms in the makeshift guest houses in the hamlet. They pay Sh3,000 per room daily.

Mdemu recalls the times when District health officials visited Matanda to educate the people on the dangers of HIV/Aids and asked them to go for voluntary HIV testing and counseling.

“In the first round of testing, I was not provided with the figures but during the second round, only 66 people tested and four were found to be HIV positive. In the third round, 125 people tested and seven were HIV positive,” he says.

Mufindi District Commissioner, Ms Evarista Kalalu says she had personally visited the area together with other district officials where they gave miners seminars on HIV/Aids and provided them with condoms.

She says Ihanzutwa small-scale gold mine is crucial for creating jobs but that it also heavily drains the youths’ energy. She called upon the miners to always ensure they remain safe and healthy.

“People should know that engaging in mining is not the end of life but their reckless behaviour is what would bring their life to an end,” Ms Kalalu warned.

She called upon those who tested HIV positive to live as directed by medical experts while those who are negative should protect themselves from contracting the virus.

Email: [email protected]