Police arrest polygamous religious leader and annul marriage with minor – Manica, Mozambique

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Police arrest polygamous religious leader and annul marriage with minor – Manica, Mozambique

12:39 CAT | 20 Dec 2016

Voa (File photo)

Police in the Mozambican province of Manica have arrested 37-year-old leader of religious sect Johan Marange and annulled his marriage to a 14-year-old girl. The leader’s name has not been revealed.

The leader of the polygamist sect – known for authorising premature marriages and rejecting conventional medicine – began wooing the girl with gifts in early 2016, a relative of the girl told VOA. She would have been his eighth wife.

The mother of the girl had reached an agreement with the religious leader, but her family, who were against the relationship, reported the case to the police on 7 July, the day the relationship was to be formalized.

“The mother had financial difficulties, so she looked on the arrangement as a relief, but the girl did not agree and only entered into it to please close relatives,” said the source, who is closely connected with Marange.

The complaint to police was “made because several uncles and aunts of the girl also did not agree with the marriage, because in addition to being a minor, the girl had not finished her schooling and was unprepared to enter into a polygamous home”, the same source said.

After the man’s arrest, one of his brothers tried to bribe a policeman with 10,000 meticais (US$150) and was also jailed. The girl’s mother was detained fro complicity but later released.

Manica police spokeswoman Elsidia Filipe confirmed the arrest and said that the case would go to court.

“We received a complaint in Gondola about an individual who had a relationship with a child aged 14 years old, and when he tried to formalise it with the family, they lodged a complaint with the Department of Domestic Violence. Subsequently, steps were taken,” Filipe said.

In 2011, a 13-year-old girl filed a lawsuit in Manica to contest a marriage arranged by her father with a polygamist, both members of Marange’s sect. In 2015, three other children under the age of 14 launched a lawsuit in the Manica provincial court challenging marriages imposed by parents and leaders of the same religious organization.

A pastor in Johan Marange’s church is supposedly obliged to marry the daughter or wife of a believer if he dreams about her. Members do not have the same right.

A report by the United Nations Children’s Fund.[UNICEF] warns that early marriage is one of the most serious social problems in Mozambique, but is still largely ignored in the development challenges the country is pursuing and requires greater attention from policy makers.

Source: Voa Portugues