'I was not allowed to visit Tuku in hospital'

OLIVER 'Tuku' Mtukudzi's ex-wife wife, Melody Murape, says she was not allowed to see the late music legend even during his time in hospital.

Murape revealed this in a wide ranging interview with H-Metro at her Highfield residence.

She said she last spoke to Tuku around early 2000s when their daughter Selmor was customarily married.

"It's not like I wanted Tuku back or being close but I was not even allowed to talk to him. I couldn't even visit him in hospital and I had accepted that," said Melody.

"The last time I talked to him was when our daughter was married around 2000; he actually called we and sent a driver to pick me here to go to Madziwa for the event," she said.

Murape, however, said she is not bitter with Tuku over their break up. She said she was the one who moved out the marriage as she could not tolerate polygamy. She said the late music superstar tried to keep her as his wife but she decided to walk away after Tuku married Daisy Mashonga.

"He (Tuku) actually wanted me to stay. I am not even bitter with him because he tried all the tricks for me to stay. "I am the one who moved out because I couldn't share a husband," she said.

She said though they separated with Tuku two years after their marriage, they only legally separated in 1993 after a High Court decision. She dismissed claims that she would demand a share from Tuku's estate saying she has benefited for the time they have been together.

"I am not that type who wants to enjoy what I didn't work for. I legally divorced Tuku in 1993 and we shared all what we had, that was it," she said.