ZVIMBA – President Robert Mugabe has used the funeral of his sister Bridget to open up about his family telling mourners that his father Gabriel Chatunga abandoned his family to go to Bulawayo where he married a Ndebele woman.
“My father was away for ten years in Bulawayo where, along with my uncles and other men, mainly from Manicaland, he was fleeced by beautiful Bulawayo ladies.
“At that time, Bulawayo had a vibrant social life and men across the country flocked to that part of the country. Harare paled in significance in that regard,” he said.
“When he returned he had married a Ndebele woman and had sired three children, Albert, David and Regina (ex-ZESA boss Sidney Gata’s wife). He loaded his loot onto a train and came home.
“He was so in love with Ndebele women that he brought with him his father and mother-in-law as well as his wife’s sisters,” said Mugabe breaking into laughter.
“I was angry; I could not understand how this mudhara (old man) could abandon us just like that. I could not understand how he could leave us without school fees or provisions for everyday living. Then I wrote an angry letter. My uncles were not amused so they asked me to apologise, which I did,” he said.
On Sunday morning President Mugabe’s 78-year-old sister Bridget Mugabe succumbed to heart failure after spending nearly 4 years in a coma at Parirenyatwa Hospital. This was after she collapsed at the burial of her sister Sabina at the National Heroes Acre in 2010.
Bridget was buried at the family’s rural home in Kutama Village (Zvimba) on Tuesday.
