Mr Fred Gasho is bitter that the family of the late
national hero Oliver Mtukudzi did not alert him, as per traditional custom, of
the demise of his son-in-law. Mr Gasho is the biological father of Daisy,
Oliver’s widow.
Mr Gasho and his wife, Daisy’s step-mother, did not attend
the funeral wake in Norton nor Mtukudzi’s burial in Madziva.
According to Shona traditions and customs, when an in-law
passes away, a message, commonly called “mhere”, is dispatched to the other
family. The message is usually accompanied by a token.
What irks Mr Gasho more is that he was also not informed of
the illness that his son-in-law finally succumbed to.
“I was never told of the illness of my son-in-law, and
later his passing on. It is very difficult to hear that your son-in-law has
passed away, without hearing of his illness.
“Then we were shocked as everyone when we heard the news of
his death on radio. We were waiting for official communication, as per our
customs, but no word has come through. Therefore, we could not travel to a
funeral which we were not informed of.”
He said when Sam Mtukudzi died in 2010, a message was
dispatched, as well as a car, to ferry them from their rural home near Kapare
School in the Magunje area of Karoi.
“This time they didn’t send any word nor car to ferry us
but we hear they sent a bus to the Mashonga family, to take them to the
funeral,” he continued.
Mr Gasho and Elizabeth Mashonga had Daisy but the two
didn’t get married. Mrs Mashonga migrated to Zambia where she bore five other
children, of which three are surviving. When her husband passed away in Zambia,
she relocated to Zimbabwe where she is said to have lived the life of a loner.
According to recollections from villagers, in October 2016,
Daisy’s mother was allegedly found dead after at least two days, by a small
village girl who used to charge her phone. When the little girl had not seen
the old lady for some days, she went into her hut to check, and found her dead.
Her memorial service in December that year was the last
time that Daisy visited her mother’s home, which has since been sold.
“When Daisy’s mother passed away, I was not told again,
despite that I had paid all formalities to make Daisy be recognised as a Gasho
offspring. Basically, I had paid my dues and should have been recognised as
such.”
When her mother left for Zambia, Daisy was left in the care
of her maternal uncles, the Mashongas, to where a bus was recently dispatched
to ferry mourners to Mtukudzi’s funeral, a development that has raised the ire
of Mr Gasho.
Openly shedding tears, Mr Gasho said this was the son-in-law
who had done three songs for him, whom he was denied a chance for a send-off.
“I am Nzou Samanyanga, so was Oliver, and that is why he
did the song Cheka Ukama, as he wanted to marry my daughter. Then years later,
when I pestered him for the remaining lobola for Daisy, he did Nyanga Yenzou,
in which he was mockingly asking me where he could find an elephant tusk to
finish off the lobola. Then he did Ndotangira Poi, another song he said was a
tribute to me. So how can I have been denied a chance to send off my
son-in-law, who loved and admired me so much?”
Mrs Agnes Gasho, the stepmother, said they enjoyed cordial
relations with their in-laws, indicating that when Oliver’s mother was still
alive, she used to visit them. Sunday Mail
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