WTF?
Mbereko, 40, has been a widow for the past 12 years and has been living with her 23-years-old son Farai Mbereko.
She confirms that she is six month pregnant and that she has
decided it is better to “marry” her son because she does not want to
marry her late husband’s young brothers, whom she says are coveting her.
Betty stunned a village court last week when she said the affair with her son had begun three years earlier.
She said after spending a lot of money sending Farai to school
following the death of her husband, she felt she had a right to his
money and no other woman was entitled to it.
“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 was more than prepared to marry his mother and would
pay off the ilobola balance his father had left unpaid to his
grandparents.
“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.”
He warned them to immediately break off their marriage or leave
his village. They chose the latter and have since left the village for
an undisclosed destination.
