Mrs Mbereko, has been a widow for the past 12 years and has been living with her 23-years-old son Farai Mbereko. She asserts that for her to marry her late husband younger brothers, she is better off with her son, Farai.
Betty disclosed her true intentions in a village court last week. She said the affair with her son had begun three years earlier. She said after struggling to send her son to school without anyone’s help she deemed it fit to enjoy Farai’s money other than allowing another woman into her son’s life
“Look, I strove alone to send my son to school and no one helped me. Now you see that my son is working and you accuse me of doing something wrong. Let me enjoy the products of my sweat,” she told the village court council.
Farai said he has made up his mind to marry his mother and is willing to pay off the ilobola balance his father didn’t finish paying before his death to his grandparent. “I know my father died before he finished paying the bride price and I am prepared to pay it off,” he said.
“It is better to publicise what is happening because people should know that I am the one who made my mother pregnant. Otherwise they will accuse her of promiscuity.”
But local headman Nathan Muputirwa says: “We cannot allow this to happen in our village, mashura chaiwo aya, (This is a bad omen indeed). In the past they would have to be killed but today we cannot do it because we are afraid of the police.”
