POLICE have uncovered a 1 000-member gay syndicate in Harare, which is using a WhatsApp group platform codenamed “Private Lounge” to promote illegal relationships.
This follows the arrest in Highfield, Harare, of a 25-year-old man and a teenager who were having an illicit gay relationship.The man resides in the New Canaan section of Highfield and is employed at a local supermarket while the teenage boy, a Form Four student at a school in the capital, lives in Glen Norah B Extension.
Investigations revealed that sometime in January 2024, the teenager joined the gay WhatsApp group with more than 1 000 members .
He then introduced himself and indicated that he was looking for a partner. It is alleged that the man who was already a member of the group then contacted him and the two agreed to meet at Machipisa Shopping Centre.is said in May, the teenager went to man’s house and the two had some drinks before becoming intimate.
The teenager’s father is said to have discovered some love messages in his son’s cellphone which had been sent by the man and blocked his contact number.
On Monday, October 7, 2024, the man tried to contact the teenager on his mother’s contact number and his father was informed abHe then reported the matter to the police, leading to the pair’s arrest.
The man was taken into police custody while the teenager was released into the custody of his parents as investigations continue.
National police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the arrests.
“We confirm that we have picked up two suspects who have assisted us to unearth a gay and homosexual WhatsApp group with more than 1 000 participants who have been meeting at various places and houses in Harare. Investigations are still in progress,” he said.Gay relationships are illegal in Zimbabwe.
In February, the Government warned organisations who were luring youths into homosexuality through offering educational scholarships that they would be dealt with in terms of the law.
The so-called LGBT scholarships were branded by the Government as unlawful and unChristian.
In a recent statement, the Government criticised foreign interests for attempting to entice Zimbabwean students into what it described as “alien, anti-life, unAfrican and unChristian values.”
