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A Real Sithole
Hidden extras make 'female' star the odd man out
By Michael Wines
February 11, 2005
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Johannesburg: Zimbabwe's sports world is agog over the revelation that one of the nation's female track stars, a winner of gold and silver medals in an array of events in Zimbabwe, Botswana and elsewhere, is in fact a man.
Or both man and woman. Or, so the track star says, a man now but once and maybe yet a woman.
The Daily Herald, Zimbabwe's state-controlled national newspaper, reported the athlete, Samukeliso Sithole, of the village of Silobela, had been charged with offensive behaviour and impersonation after an acquaintance identified him as a man during a chance encounter last month at a Zimbabwe rail station.
At the time, Sithole was dressed as a woman. He was in the company of four women, one of whom later told the police that she had disrobed and bathed in Sithole's presence, believing he was one of the girls. A medical examination after his arrest, reported on Wednesday, established that Sithole was not.
Competing as a woman, Sithole, whose age was not reported, had appeared to be a national female phenomenon, collecting five medals at a youth track meeting in Mauritius, a gold medal in Botswana and six medals - five golds - at a Zimbabwe provincial championship.
Among other events, the newspaper reported, Sithole excelled in the long jump, shot put, javelin, high jump, 400-metre hurdles and triple jump.
But at a court appearance in Kwekwe, the newspaper reported, Sithole told a judge that his masculinity was an unhappy result of a billing dispute with a traditional healer.
The newspaper reported Sithole told the court he had been born with both male and female genitals and that his parents consulted a traditional healer for help. The healer, he said, prescribed a mix of herbs that caused his male organs to disappear entirely.
Unfortunately, he said, his parents paid only half the healer's fee. And when the healer recently tired of waiting for the balance, Sithole said, he caused the male genitals to grow back as punishment. Sithole said that he had made arrangements to pay the debt and that he had been scheduled to turn over the money - and revert to exclusively female status - on the day he appeared in court.
That explanation did not satisfy one Kweze woman, who told officials Sithole visited her on the day of his arrest dressed as a woman and watched as she disrobed and took a bath.
The judge, also unsatisfied, ordered Sithole be held in custody for a March 3 trial. The police told The Daily Herald they were uncertain whether to board him in a cell reserved for men or for women.
By Michael Wines
February 11, 2005
Page Tools
Email to a friend Printer format
Johannesburg: Zimbabwe's sports world is agog over the revelation that one of the nation's female track stars, a winner of gold and silver medals in an array of events in Zimbabwe, Botswana and elsewhere, is in fact a man.
Or both man and woman. Or, so the track star says, a man now but once and maybe yet a woman.
The Daily Herald, Zimbabwe's state-controlled national newspaper, reported the athlete, Samukeliso Sithole, of the village of Silobela, had been charged with offensive behaviour and impersonation after an acquaintance identified him as a man during a chance encounter last month at a Zimbabwe rail station.
At the time, Sithole was dressed as a woman. He was in the company of four women, one of whom later told the police that she had disrobed and bathed in Sithole's presence, believing he was one of the girls. A medical examination after his arrest, reported on Wednesday, established that Sithole was not.
Competing as a woman, Sithole, whose age was not reported, had appeared to be a national female phenomenon, collecting five medals at a youth track meeting in Mauritius, a gold medal in Botswana and six medals - five golds - at a Zimbabwe provincial championship.
Among other events, the newspaper reported, Sithole excelled in the long jump, shot put, javelin, high jump, 400-metre hurdles and triple jump.
But at a court appearance in Kwekwe, the newspaper reported, Sithole told a judge that his masculinity was an unhappy result of a billing dispute with a traditional healer.
The newspaper reported Sithole told the court he had been born with both male and female genitals and that his parents consulted a traditional healer for help. The healer, he said, prescribed a mix of herbs that caused his male organs to disappear entirely.
Unfortunately, he said, his parents paid only half the healer's fee. And when the healer recently tired of waiting for the balance, Sithole said, he caused the male genitals to grow back as punishment. Sithole said that he had made arrangements to pay the debt and that he had been scheduled to turn over the money - and revert to exclusively female status - on the day he appeared in court.
That explanation did not satisfy one Kweze woman, who told officials Sithole visited her on the day of his arrest dressed as a woman and watched as she disrobed and took a bath.
The judge, also unsatisfied, ordered Sithole be held in custody for a March 3 trial. The police told The Daily Herald they were uncertain whether to board him in a cell reserved for men or for women.
Zimbabwe can't win for losing.
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