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| Mai Machemedze’s burnt down houses |
Brighton Chiseva
NYAJENA – A
village widow from Zengeya under Chief Nyajena was left homeless after her neighbour
and relative burnt down her four thatched houses because her son had snatched
his wife.
Elias
Mazonde is said to have burnt down the houses out of anger because the family
of the man who stole his wife did not fulfil their promise to pay him five
cattle in compensation.
Chief
Nyajena, real name Addmore Zengeya, confirmed the incident and said he had
referred the matter to the police.
“We
had an incident whereby a widow, Mai Machemedze, was left without shelter after a neighbour
burnt down her home in retaliation that the widow’s son Wellington Machemedze
had taken his wife.
“If
these people had come to me, I could have made sure that the cattle were paid in
time and I could have provided some counselling,” said Zengeya.
He
said the Mazonde and Machemedze families are related, meaning the two are
like brothers in the Shona culture.
Sources
said Machemedze began seeing Mazonde’s wife some time ago and he went on to
impregnate her while Mazonde was in South Africa where he worked.
“The
two were caught by the locals on many occasions but the affair continued until
the woman fell pregnant. When the pregnancy was about four months, Mazonde
asked his wife to come to South Africa and she took Machemedze along and both
stayed with Mazonde in South Africa where they secretly carried on with their
adulterous affair.
“The
two then tried to terminate the pregnancy but Mazonde would soon find out and quiz
his wife about it. She then confessed everything and the two later escaped
after Mazonde had thoroughly beaten them,” said a source.
Machemedze
ended up at his elder brother Mathias who is also in South Africa but Mazonde
followed him there and beat him once more, forcing him to flee to an unknown
location.
Mazonde
then came back to Zimbabwe and engaged the Machemedze family, claiming R28000 in
compensation.
It
was then agreed that Mazonde will receive five cattle to compensate him for the
shame and embarrassment caused but several weeks passed by without him receiving
the cattle.
He
later set fire to the houses at Mai Machemedze’s place to avenge himself.
