Will someone find a wife for our PM

By Phyllis Kachere
ARIKANA Chihombori, Aquilina Kayidza Pamberi, Locadia Tembo, Loreta Nyathi, that unidentified white woman, Leah Mhundwa and the unnamed Norton woman.

What do these women have in common?
All these women and others not mentioned here have been romantically linked to Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
While there have been feeble denials from the PM’s spokespersons, these have not done much to quell Harare’s rumour mill.
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Being one of the most eligible bachelors in the country after his wife Susan died in a horrific car accident in March 2009, Mr Tsvangirai’s love life remains the subject of public speculation and has caused lots of anxiety in the MDC-T as many in the party fear that their leader could kill his political career if he fails to settle down with one woman.
When Mrs Tsvangirai was still alive, it was widely rumoured that the PM was a polygamist as he was romantically linked to the unnamed Norton woman.
Rumours of the PM’s alleged bed hopping antics shot through the roof a few months after his wife’s death when he made a hand-in-hand appearance at South African President Jacob Zuma’s inauguration with US-based Zimbabwean doctor Arikana Chihombori.

Mr Tsvangirai with an unidentified woman.

This set tongues wagging in the PM’s extended family and in the ranks of local traditionalists who viewed this romantic public appearance as disrespectful to his then recently departed spouse.
Then an unknown quantity, Dr Chihombori was described (and rather lamely) by Mr Tsvangirai’s spokesperson as a distant relative.
Just as the rumour had started, it quietly died down but not before the PM was pictured with an unidentified white woman who appeared to be kissing him on the mouth.  The PM seemed ready for the kiss and the rumour mill went into overdrive, concluding “Tsvangirai has crossed the colour divide in search of love”. There was never a media denial or acknowledgment of this incident.
A year after his wife’s death, the PM was then linked to his late wife’s sister, Leah Mhundwa, who was said to have been offered in marriage by her family in keeping with widely accepted Shona customs of chimutsa mapfihwa and sara pavana (caretaker mother).
In Shona tradition, chimutsa mapfihwa is the act by in-laws of giving in marriage a sister of a deceased wife to her widower.
The idea is that the new sister is reviving mapfihwa (fireplace) symbolically meaning a new kitchen where the new mother cooks for the husband and the children.
According to traditionalists the widower courts one of his late wife’s sisters and she has to agree before the ceremony of handing her over by her family.
Sara pavana is the practice where a female relative of a deceased woman is tasked with assuming the mother’s place to look after children of the deceased.

Ms Locadia Tembo

The practice does not extend to taking care of the husband although the two are free to eventually agree to become husband and wife.
Not much is known about the fate of this arranged relationship although there was public concern on the perpetuation of cultural practices deemed harmful, especially in a country with a debilitating HIV prevalence. Sources say the Mhundwa family is still insisting that the PM should marry Leah, which could explain why Mr Tsvangirai has failed to settle down to this day.
No sooner had speculation died down on the Leah Mhundwa issue than another woman emerge. Mr Tsvangirai was linked to Ms Aquilina Kayidza Pamberi, whom he allegedly was introduced to at Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe’s graduation party. His spokesperson claimed that he had only been introduced to Ms Kayidza Pamberi, who runs an upmarket boutique in Bulawayo but never made any advances.
But she is reported to have told friends that Mr Tsvangirai had last November promised to marry her after this year’s elections after they had reportedly checked into the Nesbitt Castle, a hotel in Bulawayo, for a night of passion.
It later emerged that Ms Kayidza Pamberi was in the process of divorcing her husband of 12 years, Mr Jacob Mandeya, further fuelling rumours that she and the PM were an item.
The rumours further claimed that Mr Mandeya was convinced his wife was secretly involved in a sexual relationship with the PM.
In May last year Mr Tsvangirai was linked to commodity broker Ms Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo.
Mr Tsvangirai and Ms Tembo reportedly met at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport and rumours that they were having a relationship intensified when the pair was spotted at a Joyce Meyer Ministries church conference in Harare. Media reports suggested then that the two were madly in love with unnamed close family members quoted as saying Mr Tsvangirai was in a dilemma as his family preferred him to marry Leah while his heart was with Ms Tembo.
Last week, PM Tsvangirai was reported to have instructed top Harare lawyer Mr Innocent Chagonda to settle a maintenance case out of court.
The woman at the centre of the maintenance case is 23-year-old Loreta Nyathi, whose father is former ZBC radio personality Englam Nyathi.
Ms Nyathi claims she had unprotected sexual intercourse with Mr Tsvangirai sometime last year resulting in the birth of her three-month-old baby for whom she is claiming maintenance from the PM.
The sexual encounter is said to have occurred on only the second occasion the pair met and this probably explains why he is reported to have remarked to close associates that he “would not pick out Loreta in a parade” as he barely remembered her.
This statement has left many wondering if the PM has bedded so many women as to forget Loreta only three months after that night of passion in a Bulawayo hotel.
The question on the minds of many people, especially those in the MDC-T who have to do a lot of firefighting on behalf of the PM regarding his unsettled love life is — who is next on the list of women linked to the busy PM?-The Sunday Mail