The Sunday Mail
Serapia Mugabe
President Mugabe is my brother-in-law as I was married to his younger brother, Donato, who died in 2007. Donato and I got married in 1954, and it was not long before I noticed how much babamukuru loved him. Back then, my husband was unemployed so we relied on babamukuru for our sustenance.
President Mugabe later helped Donato open a butchery and still continued to provide for us in a manner I had never imagined.
My children — Kaitano, Auxillia, Gabriel, Clemencio, Constance and Michael — can testify of the great love and support they have received from him since their childhood.
He paid their tuition fees and lavished them with gifts, even when their father was alive.
So, I always wish the best for babamukuru because he is a kind-hearted man and my pillar of strength.
I remember the hurt I suffered when Donato took a second wife.
I felt betrayed, confused and lost in my own world of grief.
However, President Mugabe and his mother, Ambuya Bona, assured me that I was still part of the family and that nothing would change.
Babamukuru and amai strengthened me during that sad period of my life, and I will forever be grateful to them.
When Donato died, the blueness in my sky disappeared once again as dark clouds crept in.
My Donato was gone.
He left us years ago, but my children feel as though he is around because of babamukuru.
He pampers us, something I have known since 1954.
I feel like a First Lady because of babamukuru’s love and support.
Mrs Serapia Mugabe was speaking to The Sunday Mail’s Chief Reporter Kuda Bwititi in Zvimba on January 30, 2017.
