Harare — Gospel songstress Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave has courted the anger, and even contempt, of her followers after reportedly telling a local paper that uncircumcised men were "useless" recently.
Fungisai, who was speaking at a graduation ceremony of some Shangaan men who had undergone circumcision, said an uncircumcised male could never be considered a man.
Fungisai is a board member of the National Aids Council, which is promoting male circumcision as a way of combating the spread of HIV and Aids. She reportedly said: "I would like to say to men, you are not a man unless you are circumcised."
But many people interviewed by The Herald expressed outrage over the statement, saying as a celebrity she risked alienating some of her fans who do not subscribe to her religious or cultural views.
Tawanda Magunje from Chitungwiza said as a proponent of the practice, Fungisai should find ways of preaching her circumcision gospel without looking down upon other people.
"That was uncalled for," Magunje said. "I would want to ask in what respects she would say an uncut man is not a man considering that it is the same organ that determines someone's sex."
Others pointed out that it could only be those that had met both uncut and cut men who could be better informed as to who was really "a man" between them.
Newspaper reader comments and feedback have been unsparing over the past week following the "Makomborero" hitmaker's comments.
However, in a telephone interview Fungisai said people should "forget about my ethnocentric views" but focus on the benefits of male circumcision.
"I'm only human and I'm entitled to my own opinion," she averred, saying her statements should be read in the context that she is a Remba. "But circumcision is good for the body just like food to the body. "As a Christian I'm not saying it will make you go to heaven but it is what God prescribed for his people of Israel," she said.
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Obviously this air-headed woman does not knowwhat she's talking about.
First and foremost, as a Christian she should read her bible for once. The bible is clear in that gentiles are forbidden from practicing circumcision. He is indebted to follow al 613 Jewish laws. It is spelled out in Galatians 5. Does she read her bible?
And second, if uncircumcised men are not "real men," does this mean also too, then that uncircumcised women are not real women? She should lead by example and undergo female circumcision, to prove to us just what a real woman she is.
Furthermore, she is a complete idiot if she thinks circumcision prevents AIDS. Only the proper use of condoms prevents AIDS. Circumcision does not, cannot prevent HIV transmission, as evidenced by reality.
For one, circumcision never worked in the US. In 1980, when the HIV/AIDS epidemic hit the US, over 90% of US men were already circumcised from birth. The rate of infant circumcision has fallen, but overall, 80% of the US male population remains circumcised, and we have THE HIGHEST rate of HIV transmission in the industrialized world.
The majority of men in Israel are all circumcised, and yet even Israel is facing a rising HIV/AIDS crisis. (For more information on this, please google Haaretz, and "Failing the AIDS Test," "HIV Diagnoses in Israel Climb," and "The Aids Cocktail in Israel.")
In Cameroon, where 93% of all men are circumcised, HIV was more prevalent in the circumcised men 4.1% to vs 1.1% in intact men. In Ghana, where 95% of men are circumcised, the difference was 1.6% to 1.4%. In Lesotho, where 49% of men are circumcised, it was 22.8% vs 15.2%. For Tanzania, where 69% of all men are circumcised, 6.5% of the cut men got HIV, vs. 5.6% of the intact men.
That source is here: http://measuredhs.com/countries/
A recent report in Swaziland places the infection rate for circumcised males at 22 per cent while for those uncircumcised stands at 20 per cent.
Read it for yourself here:
http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=20909
This June, Malaysian AIDS Council vice-president Datuk Zaman Khan announced that more than 70% of the 87,710 HIV/AIDS sufferers in the country are Muslims. 60% of the Malaysian population is Muslim, and Islamic families circumcise all their male children, the rest of the population does not, which means that HIV is spreading at a higher rate among the population with the circumcised men.
Circumcision is FAILING. The promotion of circumcision as HIV prevention is DESTROYING AFRICA.
When all is said and done, circumcised men with HIV will have nothing but the WHO, UNAids and UNICEF to blame. Them and this silly Fungisai woman.
Are you reading, African men? When the circumcision/HIV hoax is over and you got HIV anyway, blame Fungisai.