The late Oliver Mtukudzi’s love child, Memory from Bulawayo says she was shunned at his funeral. “When he passed on it was a Wednesday....
The late Oliver Mtukudzi’s love child, Memory from Bulawayo says she was shunned at his funeral.
“When he passed on it was a Wednesday. So I went to Harare on a Thursday and when I got there a lot of people had already gathered. I couldn’t find anyone willing to welcome me. So I was taken to a private room and that’s when they asked if I’m memory from Bulawayo and I said yes I was.
“The person that caused me the most pain during the funeral called me when I was sitting outside with other mourners and said Memo you now want to be known by people after you had been abusing my nephew when he was alive, I can make sure that you don’t even go to the body viewing ceremony or even be there when he is buried. I didn’t reply her. She said I should behave myself because they didn’t want children from the bush,” she said in an interview with the Sunday News.
“When I went outside the other aunts asked me why I was crying and I told them that there was someone that was bothering me saying that I will not be able to bury my father. That woman had shouted at me and said they don’t want children of prostitutes at the funeral. That’s when there came some buses that were taking people from Pakare Paye to the stadium.
“I saw that they were people that were climbing on top so I realised that if I didn’t do that I wouldn’t be able to bid him farewell. I finally got where relatives and high class people were seated and I managed to see my father. When I went to his home during the funeral it was my first time inside that house. It was my first time to be welcomed by the aunts and other relatives.
Memory said she only took a shirt and a straw hat when Tuku’s clothes were distributed.
“I was there when people were giving out his clothes and they said his children should come and get his stuff. Some people were putting stuff in bags and Selmor was there too and I said I wasn’t interested in the clothes but she said I needed to get something and that’s when I took one shirt and put it in my bag. Then my son said that he wanted his straw hat and that’s when I got up and went to get it as well.
“Afterwards the most senior aunts got up and said that since my father was a travelling man, he had children that were not yet known to the family and so they needed to be welcomed home. Then another aunt got up to complained and said that they couldn’t just accept everyone who walked through the door claiming to be a part of the family. I counted four of us. I remember Felix, Clive and Kelvin. They are from different areas but I was the one that was a bit known,” she said.
Memory emerged in 2015 and claimed that the iconic Mtukudzi was her father.Her mother and Tuku’s affair ended when she was five years old. Her mother, Barbara Siziba, passed away when Memory was eight years old.
Mtukudzi never denied her claims and according to Memory, their relationship had normalised by the time he passed away earlier this year.
We got along fine but the only problem was the person who had power in his life. But whenever I needed help he was there for me. If he was in Bulawayo and I told him that the children had not paid their school fees he would pay it and if I needed anything he would give me money for it. We only had problems when I got pregnant. He didn’t approve of my husband,” she said.
“He gave my mother’s sister money to buy me a stand in Cowdray Park. The house has so far been built to window level,” she said.
But she said life for her was hard at present.
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