Keeper Manyatera scores hat trick of women

By Nyore Madzianike and Tawanda Bote

BLACK Mambas goalkeeper Willard Manyatera is accused of impregnating — then ditching — three women. Some of the estranged women who spoke to H-Metro accused Manyatera of failing to take responsibility for his children.

Case Number One:

Victim: Tafadzwa Mushazhira of House No. 1652 Glen Norah A.

Complaint: Dumped while pregnant.

“I fell in love with Manyatera some time in 2007. I then left for South Africa, where I worked for some months, before returning to Zimbabwe. “I then got reunited with him and got pregnant months later. I stayed with him for one and half weeks at his place. It was during the few days that I was staying with him that I fell sick.

“He sent me back to my parents for treatment. That is when things became complicated,” she said. Tafadzwa said Manyatera saw an opportunity in her sickness to dump her. “From the day he took me to my parents, he never looked after me. I gave birth at my parents’ place.

“But since I gave birth, he has never come to see the child,” she said. Manyatera’s child is six months old. Asked why he had not come to see his daughter for the past six months, Tafadzwa said: “My parents said he was not privileged to see his daughter because he had not paid a single cent towards lobola.

“They argued that he was supposed to pay damages to my parents, according to our tradition. “That is why he has not seen his child,” she said. Tafadzwa works for Rainbow Cinemas. She blamed her ex-boyfriend for failing to take care of his child. She said he had not helped in the upkeep of their baby.

“He has not taken responsibility for his child. Maybe he is taking advantage of my capability to look after the child. “He knows that I am working and can afford to look after the child and he is using that as an excuse to avoid responsibility for his daughter,” she said.

Asked whether she was still in love with Manyatera, Tafadzwa said: “My relationship with him is that he is the father to my child – nothing more or nothing less. He is aware that he is the father to my child, although he is still to process her birth certificate.

“He is now married to someone else and I will never go back to him again because I don’t want to add more problems to the one I am facing.” But the two have not been formally divorced. “We are no longer in love, although we have not come out in the open to each other. The way things are going suggests that we are no longer in love. I have enough money to look after the baby and myself.

“I don’t have any reason to go back to him.”

Case Number Two:

Victim: Fungai Kasiyamhuru of House No 3702 Glen Norah A.

Complaint: Dumped by Manyatera, after he failed to pay lobola.

Her Story; Fungai has Manyatera’s daughter. The child is two months older than Tafadzwa’s daughter.

Fungai said the 2007 Soccer Star finalist ditched her after failing to pay lobola. “It is sad that he is failing to take care of his baby. He has not done anything towards the upkeep of his child,” she said.

“What surprises me is that he does not even bother to give me a cent towards his baby’s upkeep. “He is irresponsible. I don’t know what kind of a father he is. Calling him is just a waste of time, as he seems not to care. To him, it’s like everything is going  well.”  Fungai told H-Metro that Manyatera was turned away by her parents after he opted to pay US$300 as lobola.

“He left me after failing to raise the money needed for lobola. He wanted to pay US$300. That did not go down well with my parents. “They felt it was too little. He was supposed to go and look for more money.” Fungai had cohabited with Manyatera for two months before they separated. The Chiredzi-born and bred goalie could neither confirm nor deny the allegations.

He opted to discuss the matter in the presence of Tafadzwa and Fungai. “I think this story needs to be discussed in the presence of all the women. It is something that is private and confidential,” he said. Pressed to shed more light on his relationship with Fungai and Tafadzwa, Manyatera laughed, before pleading with the reporter not to publish the story. “It is something of no importance. Nyaya iyoyo siyana nayo,” he said.

Case number three:

Victim: Still unknown as H-Metro failed to hook up with her.

Investigations have so far revealed that she stays in Houghton Park. She was, like the aforementioned duo, dumped by Manyatera. The soccer star is currently staying with another woman at his apartment (No. 8 Block 1) at Willowvale Flats. Soon to be victim number four? The odds favour this. H Metro