Drowned woman's family demands 10 beasts

GIFT Tichana, the father of a Masvingo woman, Fadzai Tichana, who died after allegedly throwing herself into a river following a dispute with her husband over infidelity claims, has described his in-laws as disrespectful and vowed to force them to pay the outstanding bride price.

Gift Tichana was furious at Fadzai's husband, Tinashe Mawine and his family accusing them of being insincere. He said Fadzai was buried on Saturday at Mangwandi Cemetery in Masvingo after a two-hour standoff between the two families over money which the Mawine family were supposed to pay as respect before they could bury the body.

"Tinashe Mawine had not paid lobola for marrying my daughter and we wanted him to pay first before allowing them to bury her. The funeral wake had to be stopped as we failed to reach a compromise with the Mawine family.

"We wanted them to pay 10 beasts before we could talk of burial but later reduced the figure to six. I got furious and we threatened to let them proceed with the burial in our absence until they pleaded with us.

"The fact that their son, Tinashe, played a role in the death of my daughter meant they were supposed to understand and not take us for fools.

"We wanted them to show respect through paying us six beasts partly as lobola and to show remorse for what my daughter had gone through during her marriage to Tinashe," he said.

Tichana said the Mawines only managed to pay three beasts and after discussing as a family, they then allowed the burial to go ahead.

"We reached a truce when they paid three beasts on the understanding that they would pay the outstanding bride price later. However, when we tried to engage them after the burial over the same issue, they seemed not to be co-operative. In fact they were avoiding us but I am saying we won't relent until they pay us what we demanded," he said.

Contacted for comment, the Mawine family spokesperson Jane Muzhavazhi, said as far as she was concerned they were done with the Tichana family adding that they had paid all that was supposed to be paid.

"As far as I understand we no longer have anything outstanding, we have paid the three beasts that they wanted. We are however, prepared to listen to their extra needs so that we do not spoil our relationship," she said.

When asked on the mini drama prior to burial, Muzhavazhi said: "There is nothing like that. There was nothing unusual about the meetings held between the two families."