Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s ‘new wife’ Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo was yesterday formally introduced to his family at Humanikwa Village in Buhera according to the state owned Herald newspaper.
The introduction is in line with local tradition which requires that a new wife be officially presented to the husband’s family soon after the payment of the bride price.
This comes almost a week after the PM allegedly paid US$36,000 lobola at the Karimatsenga family plot in Christon Bank, a development his aides denied claiming he had paid US$10,000 in damages for getting her pregnant out of wedlock.
But the Herald claims it visited PM Tsvangirai’s rural homestead early yesterday morning and found Ms Tembo and her three aunts performing traditional rites associated with the introduction of a new bride.
“They were sweeping the yard and fetching water from a nearby village well for Mr Tsvangirai’s relatives to take a bath. The ceremony was performed at PM Tsvangirai’s mother, Mbuya Lydia Tsvangirai’s homestead which is adjacent to that of her son,” the paper reported.
“Mbuya Tsvangirai said Ms Tembo’s entourage arrived at around 11pm on Saturday while it was raining. Upon their arrival, Mbuya Tsvangirai said she asked her nephew to open the gate to a security fence at the homestead.
She offered Ms Tembo and her aunts one of the bedrooms in the main house where they put up for the night. Relatives and fellow villagers could be seen streaming to the homestead to congratulate Mbuya Tsvangirai yesterday morning.
They welcomed Ms Tembo into the Tsvangirai family and wished her well. Ms Tembo was staying at the house of the PM’s uncle, Mr Innocent Zvaipa, in Harare since the payment of lobola. Mbuya Tsvangirai accepted congratulations for the arrival of her new daughter-in-law.
“Makorokoto ndeedu tese,” she said.
“Asi handina kufara nokuti dai mambomirira imwe nguva mozoita basa renyu rekutora mapictures.
“Tinoziva kuti munoda kuti zvizivikanwe nenyika yose asi hamungouyi mongoti pure-pure seshiri dziri kumhara paurimbo.”
Mr Tsvangirai’s uncle, who refused to give his first name, questioned why people were keen to follow the PM’s marriage.
“Imi pamakaroora makamboteverwa nani,” he said.
“Ndiye atanga kuroora here nhasi? Hapachisina zvimwe zvandingataura nemi nezvenyaya iyi. Ivo vachataura vega kana vachida.”
Although it was a private ceremony, investigations by The Herald since Saturday established that MDC-T party activists in Buhera already knew about the event. Word was abuzz at Murambinda Growth Point, about 25km from the PM’s village, that the new bride was coming for introductions yesterday.
PM Tsvangirai and his new wife have remained mum over their marriage, which has courted controversy with some claiming that there were no nuptials between the two. MDC-T officials maintain that the PM paid US$10 000 damages at the Karimatsenga home for impregnating Ms Tembo out of wedlock.
PM Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Mr Luke Tamborinyoka, although at first totally dismissing the marriage, later assured the nation that the couple would make a statement in due course. “If the Prime Minister decides to marry, he will inform the nation at the appropriate time,” he said.
PM Tsvangirai’s marriage follows the death of his first wife, Susan, in a car accident in 2009. Reports indicate that the PM met Ms Tembo, a successful commodity broker who provides stock for big wholesalers, at the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg last year.
PM Tsvangirai was last year seen in the company of Ms Tembo at preacher Joyce Meyer’s Festival of Life Conference in Harare. The Herald
