Eleven widows of clergyman Robert Martin Gumbura who died from COVID-19 recently have vowed that they will not remarry.
Gumbura died aged 65 while serving a jail term at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after being convicted on rape charges.
He was jailed in 2014 and was initially sentenced to 50 years in prison, 10 of which were suspended on condition of good behaviour.
Twenty (20) years were slashed in 2020 after a series of appeals made through the High Court.
To his wives, the clergyman was a “victim of some complicated conspiracy”.
The Sunday Mail reports that the late Gumbura’s second wife and family spokesperson, Queen Bunga said her husband’s death came as a shock.
She said his family was not informed that he was not feeling well and up to now they are still trying to come to terms with the fact that he is no more.
His death came as a shock. We were never told that he was sick and up to now we are still trying to come to terms with the fact that he is no more. The late Gumbura’s second wife and family spokesperson, Queen Bunga told The Sunday Mail:
We are grieving, a lot is happening and I will be able to give you more details in due course when things hopefully settle.
His brother, Innocent Gumbura said they got a call from prison officials the night before his brother’s death asking them to bring some medication for him.
When they delivered the items the following morning, he was already dead. He added that authorities should have told them in time that he was not well or “at least allowed us to conduct a postmortem to ascertain the cause of death.”
We got a call from prison officials the night before his (Gumbura) death, asking us to bring some medication for him. Unfortunately, when we delivered the items the following morning, he was already dead.
Innocent added that all of his brother’s widows have vowed not to marry again. He said:
It is us the siblings who seem worried, but the wives are fine, they are united and they stand together as they have always done. They have vowed that they are not going anywhere.
His firstborn is 38-years-old, while the last is aged eight.
The total number of assets is yet to be ascertained but includes 11 houses, several church buildings, a mine, a farm and a fleet of more than 20 vehicles. Nothing has been distributed yet.
In an earlier interview with the Sunday Mail, Gumbura had said he did not mind if his wives remarried since he was going to leave prison as an old man.
The interview was conducted before his jail term was slashed.
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