A family from Bulawayo’s Matshobana suburb snubbed their daughter’s wedding after their request to have the event hosted in Bulawayo was turned down by the groom.
Tensions reached fever pitch when Gwendolyn Masuku tied the knot with her lover Tatenda Makarau at St Braeside Community Hall in Harare a fortnight ago. Her parents — Abednego Masuku, Mollet Ndebele and relatives were conspicuous with their absence.
According to a family insider Gwendolyn’s parents and other family members had asked that the wedding be held in Bulawayo.
Makarau allegedly turned a deaf ear to their request. In a bid to arm twist her parents to attend the wedding in Harare the bride and the groom sent transport fare but still the Masuku family stuck to their decision.
The two lovebirds went ahead with the wedding on the scheduled date but the bride’s parents and relatives were a no show.
The distraught Masukus said: “What I know is that the main purpose of a wedding is to unite families and if that does not happen in an expected manner it becomes a disgrace like in our case. It defies the logic that my daughter was sweet-talked into tying the knot with her lover in Harare in our (parents and relatives) absence. That is totally against our culture. As a family we felt belittled and worthless,” said Masuku.
Masuku and family will convene a meeting to map the way foward.
“We are yet to convene a meeting as a family and come-up with a decision on how we are going to deal with this contentious issue. We would prefer compensation as they have disrespected us,” he said.
A family member from Tatenda Makarau’s family who requested not to be named in fear of reprisal said they tried all they could but efforts were fruitless.
“At first we sent them money but they stuck to their decision. We then decided to send them transport, still they refused to come. As such, we were left with no option but to go ahead with the wedding,” she said.
Efforts to get a comment from the newlyweds were fruitless as their mobile phones were not reachable.
The family insider said the newlyweds have relocated to Zambia where Makarau has secured a job. – B-Metro
