The Premier's sisters in law who are at the centre of speculation that one of them has been inherited as the Premier's wife seen here with Zimbabwe's Ambassador to Germany H H Makuvise at the Premier's Strathaven home where they have been comforting the premier during the year of mourning for his late wife Susan
The Zimbabwe PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s romantic life is, not unexpectedly though increasingly, taking centre stage.
According to the majority of Shona tribes of Zimbabwe traditional customs and practice, a year after the death of a married woman or man, a ceremony termed Kurova Guva is held to cleanse the widow or widower and free them from perpetual mourning.
The ceremony usually has several objectives key among them being;
- Praying for the spirit of the deceased to return back into the family and provide spiritually protection and guidance for its orphans and widow or widower
- Final disposal of the traditional symbols of the marriage terminated by death
- Giving the widow/er the green light and freedom to look for a replacement husband/wife through inheritance and or seek new love and or
- Formalizing the appointment of the customary official stand in for deceased marriage partner who will perform all traditional roles that the late partner would have been traditionally expected to fulfill from among the qualifying remaining relatives of the deceased-Sara Pavana- or children’s guardian.
Traditionally the Sara Pavana was not expected to fulfill the intimacy role as she could be a married elder or younger sister or niece of the deceased or alternatively he could be an elder brother or cousin of the deceased prohibited to inherit –Kugara Nhaka in respect of the act where a widower accepts a replacement husband or Kumutsa Mapfihwa in the case where the husband accepts a replacement wife.
Where either of the surviving spouses opted for the replacement husband or wife from among the blood relatives of the departed spouse the need for the appointment of a Children’s traditional guardian was invalidated as the relative coming into the marriage naturally filled the gap.
It was only where either of the surviving spouses opted out of the inheritance option or where in laws refused and or failed to provide a substitute wife from among their unmarried siblings that it was considered necessary to appoint the guardian and thereby impliedly give consent for the surviving spouse to seek new love and romance elsewhere provided the new love had no rights whatsoever to perform traditional rituals for the orphans of the initial marriage which would be preserved for the Sara Pavana or Traditionally appointed guardian.
The reports that Prime Minister Tsvangirai has now accepted his late wife’s sister Leah Mhundwa as the replacement wife are misleading in the absence of evidence that the Kumutsa Mapfihwa- literally translated to mean revival of the late Susan Tsvangirai’s kitchen and wife responsibilities towards the Premier- are misplaced and traditionally at variance with the norm.
What is evident is that the Kurova Guva ritual for the late Susan Tsvangirai was either performed and most likely Leah Mhundwa was seconded to him as the Sara Pavana (Guardian) because the Premier did not accept any of his late wife’s available relatives as substitutes for his late wife.
The other misconception arising from the report is that now because she has been given to Morgan Tsvangirai as a replacement for the late Susan, Leah is now expected to move into the Premier’s Strathaven home and extend conjugal rights to the Premier at the same time she accompanies Tsvangirai to official state events and look after the Premier’s six children with the late Susan.
The truth of the matter is that ever since the death of the late Susan her sisters have been taking turns to live with and comfort the Premier throughout his 1 year mourning period and they have been accompanying him to any official function he wanted them to be present and by his side.
There is nothing in customary law that prevented them from tending to the Premier and even giving him some romantic moments without indulging in intimate sex with him prior to the cleansing ceremony of Kurova Guva.
If there were any intimate intentions between the Premier and any of his sisters in law that comforted him through the year of morning for his late wife, now he is free to officially express them and if any of the sisters in law accept his advances, she could well end up being his official second wife if the Mhundwas accept his proposal to officially marry any of them.
Edwin, Garikai, Vimbai, Rumbidzai and twins Milcent and Vincent the Premier’s children, are all in their teens and early adulthood and will have no major problems with a romance between their father and one of their aunts whom, in true Shona tradition, they have always regarded as their mother even when their maternal mother was still alive.
Should the Premier however choose to start a new romance with anyone else not related to the Mhundwa’s or disliked by his grown up children, there could be friction in the family yet still one girl from the Mhundwa family will remain the official traditional guardian for the children with special responsibilities to perform those roles Susan would have performed for them if she was still alive.
Whatever speculation there is about the course of the Premier’s romantic life, henceforth the nation must always be prepared to see one or more of the Mhundwa girls by his side.
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