Gumbura a pervert, but certainly not a rapist

By Maynard Manyowa
New Zimbabwe
February 22, 2015

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/columns-20714-Gumbura+a+pervert,+but+not+a+rapist/columns.aspx

THERE is, arguably, no contemporary figure that has unified opinion, and attracted universal condemnation like Robert Martin Gumbura the leader of extremist Christian fellowship, End Time Message.

About a year ago Robert Gumbura was arrested and hauled before the courts, accused of raping two women married to the same man. The circumstances were that, the women’s husband who lives in South Africa had sent money for them through the church leader, and when they went to collect it, he insisted on seeing them separately. He subsequently raped them.

Gumbura quickly adopted the title of the ‘Rapist Pastor’. This was just the start of his problems. The beleaguered clergyman would soon make more headlines, as one woman after the other began to approach the police with reports of alleged rape at his hands.

At one point the women who were accusing him of forcibly tapping the cupcake reached a staggering 40. In fact, the number of women who have claimed rape, including those who have not pressed charges has since been reported to be over a 100. Wow!

Zimbabwe has progressed as a nation to protect women from all forms of abuse, and sexual abuse is taken seriously in this conservative nation. The number of women distressed by Gumbura’s poking stick is upsetting, and for that he deserved some form of punishment, by karma however, and not by law.

You see, the circumstances around the entire cases(s) are less than convincing. Rape implies that a woman has been forced, and coerced into having sex. The characteristic of the sexual encounter being non-consensual is what constitutes Rape.

In Gumbura’s case however, it is nowhere near that. None of the women were forced at knife point, or drugged and date raped. In fact, they consented to the encounters, albeit after being lied to. But is this Rape? I don’t think so.

Gumbura lied to the women in question that he had some supernatural powers, and that those who refused to bed him would meet unfortunate and torrid ends. He basically deceived his way into their pants.

But if lying your way into a woman’s honeypot is rape, then I am afraid we are all guilty of it. All men do it repeatedly, or at least a handful of times in a lifetime. Men will claim to love a woman, just to get their way with her in bed.

Going by the Gumbura precedence, then any woman who has ever been deceived by a man can, and should have the deceitful male who deflowered her commuted into a maximum prison for 40 years.

In some cases, Gumbura lured his ‘victims’ with promises of money, wealth, amenities, and other material things. Promises he often delivered on because he had the financial prowess to. A few victims narrated how he would pay for their school fees, and basic needs, and then demand sex in return.

This is immoral, and unbecoming, but regrettably not illegal. Rich men all over the world are known to use their financial muscle in exchange for sexual favours. It’s a horrible order of society but a real one, and definitely a prominent one. It is wicked, but does not qualify as rape, certainly not by definition.

Gumbura is a horrible man, a glorified sugar daddy, a lying, conniving, and cunning sexual hunter. By all accounts he is a monstrous erotic beast, a man of very corrupt fibre. He was a leader in society, a man who people looked up to. He betrayed his followers, he betrayed Christian values. His church is entirely based on very alien values which are not biblical.

His mental psyche should be examined. It is alarming to note that he came up with decrees claiming that all women in his church were his. He claimed to have a biblical right to deflower every girl in his church, and to bed every girl before her wedding. He used his position to hoodwink girls into his bed.

Gumbura tricked many women into bed. Some were threatened with aversive spiritual attacks of biblical proportions, some with bad luck. Some he pampered with goodies, and niceties, some he simply threatened to withdraw financial support.

All this makes him a liar, a cheat, a sugar daddy, a horny grandfather with a twisted mind, and a disgusting man with a sexual appetite that can’t be satisfied. But to say he is a rapist is misdirected and misinformed.

These women chose to believe Gumbura’s lies, some of them chose to accept his gifts, and ended up in awkward positions, needing his financial support. While this sounds insensitive, Gumbura’s persecution smacks more of sour grapes than anything else.

Robert Martin Gumbura is a bad man, an immoral man, but because his victims consented to sexual intercourse with him, he is not, and cannot be called a Rapist, despite his conviction. He is a pervert yes, but only that.