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Macheso speaks on Tafadzwa

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SUNGURA music maestro Alick Macheso yesterday broke his silence over allegations of child abuse levelled against him by estranged wife Tafadzwa Fortunate Mapako.

SUNGURA music maestro Alick Macheso yesterday broke his silence over allegations of child abuse levelled against him by estranged wife Tafadzwa Fortunate Mapako.

CHARLES LAITON

Speaking at his lawyers’ Mugiya and Macharaga Law Chambers in Harare, Macheso said Tafadzwa’s claim that he had used unorthodox traditional means to treat his own three-year old daughter’s fontanelle (nhova/inkanda) problems, was bent on destroying his music career.

“I have been quiet all along and I think it’s high time people got to know the truth. Never at any stage did I abuse my child in the manner that has been described in the papers by my former wife,” Macheso said.

“I do not even remember a time when my children suffered any fontanelle problems. And, if supposed they had such health problems, there is a proper way to treat it commonly known in Shona as kutara and not what Tafadzwa alleges was done.”

Media reports last week quoted his estranged wife claiming that Macheso had inserted his manhood into his sick child’s mouth claiming the rite would stop the fontanelle problem.

“I will tell you the truth, that when she raised those allegations, I then remembered her threats to me when she said she was a different woman who if rejected would leave the husband either six-feet under or behind bars,” the musician told NewsDay.

Already, Tafadzwa’s claims have exposed Macheso to a barrage of criticism and attacks from women and child rights’ groups with police last week saying they could have him charged with indecent assault.

Macheso further said he was surprised that Tafadzwa had decided to wait for over three years to raise such “baseless” allegations against him. The Orchestra Mberikwazvo frontman said Tafadzwa raised the allegations to avoid going for paternity tests after he had challenged her to prove that he sired her two minor children.

“I challenged her to prove I was the father of the two minors after she had insulted my own mother and talked bad things about her. I became suspicious I could have been cheated given the manner she was treating me and my family,” he said.

Macheso added: “Right now, we were supposed to have gone for paternity tests, but she is nowhere to be found. We paid $670 for the tests and she has run away with the children. I do not know why she has decided to do that. I am not the one who ended the marriage, but she is the one who did so and I accepted it.”

Macheso’s daughter Sharon, who was by her father’s side, said: “I am surprised why she (Tafadzwa) has decided to behave in that manner. She has been posting nasty conversations on the Internet claiming the conversation was between herself and another woman who she claims to be her sister, on one hand, and a friend, on the other hand. We accepted her as a family member, but she wanted my father to dump my mother and her children for her.

“When she realised my father was not giving in, she then became furious and decided to leave, but not without a fight in a bid to destroy the whole family. I loved her children more than my own siblings, but that did not make any sense to her.”

Macheso’s lawyer Norman Mugiya said his client reserved the right to comment on his private life with Tafadzwa.

“Mapako has made highly defamatory and grossly false statements about my client and we are deciding whether to take legal action against her. My client is not going to comment on her social life because he does not want to tarnish her image,” Mugiya said.

“These comments are desperate attempts by a clueless individual whose forum shopping tactics have gone fatally wrong.”

Both Tafadzwa and her lawyer, from Hamunakwadi, Nyandoro and Nyambuya Legal Practitioners, could not be reached for comment on their mobile phones.