The Sunday Mail
Emmanuel Kafe
What would you do for love?
Some might be willing to make extreme sacrifices to be by their loved one’s side.
Yet, some take it a little bit further.
Indeed, love makes the world go round. lt also makes people do crazy things.
The “couples” captured in this instalment say it all.
Their “love stories”, an abomination, are a baffling oddity that emanated from deranged obsession.
In 2017, a Zvishavane man had an affair with his mother-in-law for close to seven years.
Vashko Sande decided to make her his second wife.
The unthinkable act left the whole village baffled as Sande took both daughter and mother as his wives.
In other words, Sande became his own father-in-law!
End times right?
Reports say Sande became wild and abusive after finding his “new love”. Even village elders failed to knock some sense into him. The first wife, Vimbai Magora, had to seek help from the courts and sought a peace order to protect herself from Sande’s hostility.
The three are still living together as man and wives; or is it man, wife and mother?
Equally strange is Betty Mbereko’s story.
ln 2014, the Mwenezi woman was impregnated by her 23-year-old son, Farai Mbereko.
The story went viral on social media.
A widow for 12 years, Betty decided to cohabit with her son.
The woman argued that after spending so much money educating her son following the death of her husband, she had a right to his money.
Betty declared that no other woman deserved to enjoy “the fruits of her labour”.
The young man said he was more than prepared to marry his mother. He even committed to settle the lobola balance left by his father.
However, the village headman Nathan Muputirwa could not approve the Mbereko romance. He feared the abomination would bring a bad omen to his land. He, therefore, charged them with incest and advised them to either break their “marriage” or leave his village.
But, did they break the marriage?
Are they now living as mother and son?
Are they staying in the same house?
Well, the love birds felt that their love could conquer all and chose to leave the village.
Then early this year, Bulawayo’s Entumbane suburb also had its share of bizarre marriages.
An aunt decided to marry her nephew.
The young man in question is said to have claimed that the marriage was a pre-planned arrangement with his late uncle, which was meant to safeguard the family’s wealth.
Last reports were that the woman was two months’ pregnant.
Not to be outdone, in March, Antony Mawewe (in his 20s) and his aunt Chipo Mugati (twice Antony’s age) decided to steal the limelight for all the wrong and unbiblical reasons.
The two “love birds” got married following the death of Antony’s uncle, Mike Mawewe.
Mawewe passed away some time last year.
Close relatives say Mugati decided to marry Antony, arguing that she did not want to marry any of Mawewe’s brothers, who had been reportedly eyeing her for marriage.
Culturally, Mugati is Antony’s mother since Antony’s father and the late Mawewe were biological brothers.
Like Farai, Anthony was more than ready to marry his “mother” and the two are planning their white wedding.
What makes this particular case even more distasteful is the fact that Mugati sought Antony’s assistance in nursing Mawewe when he was on his deathbed.
When a son “inherits” his widowed mother, is that not one of the cardinal sins talked about in the Bible?
Traditionalists say incest is not permissible in our culture.
“Makunakuna chaiwo aya (this is an abomination),” said president of the Zimbabwe National Healers’ Association (Zinatha) George Kandiero.
He said if such couples do not break their marriages, they risk experiencing bad omens in their lives.
ln Zimbabwe, incest is illegal and offenders are liable to a fine up to or exceeding Level 14 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both.
Feedback: [email protected]
