By A Correspondent- A self-proclaimed prophet and son of a prominent church pastor was on Saturday humiliated during his wedding in Budiriro.
The wedding, however, proceeded after the drama.
Ezekiel Chivasa was humbled by his estranged wife Jacqueline Mbangami (25) when he was set to exchange wedding vows with his sweetheart, Tafadzwa Mukanganga.
His parents were forced into a crisis meeting where some of the wedding gifts were diverted to appease the “gatecrashers”.
The wedding was held at Chivasa’s in-laws’ residence.
Mbangami showed up at the wedding venue with her relatives just when Bishop Jerdan Paradise was about to facilitate the wedding vows and presented her issues to the marriage officer.
“DJ, can you increase music volume to allow me to attend to this issue before we move on with our wedding vows,” Bishop Paradise said, as the conflict resolution process got underway.
Bishop Paradise, after meeting with the Mbangani and Chivasa families, announced the resumption of the ceremony.
Among the Chivasa family members who attended the meeting with the Mbangani family was musician Jonah Chivasa, who revealed that there had been attempts to move the wedding.
“To be honest, I only learnt of Ezekiel’s child with Jacqueline at the last minute and we had agreed as a family to move the wedding date, but preparation costs carried the day,” said Jonah.
He added:
“We nearly cancelled the wedding and his unresolved issues have left us with egg on the face, especially for my father who is a pastor and myself as a musician.
“I would like to thank the Mbangani family for allowing the marriage officer to go ahead with the ceremony after we assured the family of our support for the child’s welfare.
“The incident has affected our mother more, considering that she has not been well for the past months.
“Tichatopedzisira takumbira iye Ezekiel abve pa high table ambopindawo nesu meeting kuti vekwa Mbangani vamuudze zvichemo zvavo.”
Sources close to the Chivasa family told H-Metro that they paid US$500 as fine to the Mbangani family for the wedding to proceed while they find a common ground to address the two-year-old child’s welfare.
The bride, Tafadzwa was in tears as she looked in disbelief when the wedding was temporarily stopped for almost 20 minutes.
Amid the 20-minute chaos, the bride’s mother Gladys Makufa was blamed for forcing Ezekiel to tie the knot with Tafadzwa, who is believed to be pregnant in a way to protect her image as an elder with a leading Pentecostal church.
Some of the guests had no kind words for Gladys, accusing her of tarnishing the two families’ images.
“Mai vemusikana ndivo vakamanikidzira muchato vakatoti ngauitirwe pamba pavo zvekunzi ane mwana hazvina basa zvino tazovanyarira zvikuru nezvaitwa izvi.
“It is not good for church elders to conceal issues pertaining their children when they do wrong and become tough when solving other families’ issues.
“She refused to move the wedding date since she is the one who met most of the wedding costs and she was yet to meet Tafadzwa’s in-laws,” said a guest.
Gladys told H-Metro that she was not moved by the disruption of the wedding by the Mbangani family.
“Everything went well and nothing official pointing to the wedding stoppage was announced so I can say it went according to plan.” She refused further questions.
Jacqueline said she wanted her voice heard at the wedding since Ezekiel and his parents were turning a deaf ear to issues pertaining to her two-year-old child with Ezekiel.
“We did not come with the intention to stop the wedding, but took the opportunity to seek attention from the family because Ezekiel has not been supporting the child for the past two years,” said Jacqueline.
“Ezekiel only facilitated the child’s birth certificate and that was that; kwavakutozonzwa kuti akaitisa Tafadzwa mimba saka mai vake varikuda muchato nekukasira.
“Church elders must not look down on other families to that extent as if we are not human beings who are also loved by the same God they worship,” she said in tears while holding the child.
Ezekiel and Tafadzwa were not available to comment on the incident. — HMetro