Landlord evicts gay suspect

A landlord in Mchinji has evicted his tenant on suspicions he is gay, both parties have confirmed the development.
The landlord, Michael Sato Mbewe, told Zachimalawi today he was suspicious of the tenant, Kumkeyani Santhe’s, behavior, saying during the past seven years that he (Santhe) had been renting a two bed-roomed house, “there was no female who ever visited; in fact, it was always men and men…and these were not even his relatives”.
But Santhe quashed the claims. He said the males his landlord is referring to are “mere friends who merely come to visit. After all, what has a landlord to do with people who visit you? I thought when you let out a house it becomes temporary property of the tenant? This is very unfair”.
However, Sato Mbewe also said he decided to evict the tenant because he was not getting married.
Said he: “Actually, it is not true that I have evicted Santhe because he is gay. The reason is that he is 35 years old, has never brought any female friend home, and shows no interest to marry. During the past seven months, four of my neighbours’ daughters have fallen pregnant because of single tenants. I don’t want this to happen to me.”
Sato Mbewe has three daughters aged, 21, 18 and 14.
But the evicted tenant maintained he had been evicted last week Wednesday because the landlord suspects he is gay.
“I have stayed here for seven solid years: why didn’t I impregnate his daughters? In addition, how can a homosexual man impregnate a woman? It doesn’t make sense to me,” Santhe said.
He has, however, come to terms with the decision and says he plans to go to Mozambique and start working. Santhe is an electrical engineer and hails from Mtengo Village in the area of Traditional Authority Kalonga in Salima.