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Casanova secretly married 5 women
By
Lebo Nkatazo
PHILANDERING
Edward Chigwida married at least FIVE women -- three based in the United
Kingdom and two more based in Zimbabwe in secret ceremonies unknown
to his other partners.
New Zimbabwe.com tracked down three women who were all customarily married to Chigwida -- and all say he only wanted their money.
Two of the women asked not to be identified, but Sandra Zambezi, the casanova's heart broken third wife last night waived her identity in the hope that she will save other women from falling into Chigwida's clutches.
In an exclusive interview, she told how Chigwida:
• Paid lobola for her, then suddenly rejected the idea of a public wedding ceremony in Zimbabwe.
• Made her buy a house stand in Harare, but registered it in his name.
• Demanded expensive gifts including, at one time, a Mercedes ML which she bought with a bank loan and shipped to South Africa.
• Paid lobola for at least three other women.
Speaking for the first time about her heartache, the 30-year-old nurse said: "At first, he was really sweet. I genuinely thought I had found a husband, and was ready to commit myself.
"The love making was great, and I liked his mother who is a wonderful person. But it all turned sour when I started making shocking discoveries about his other women and dodgy activities. It broke my heart, but I am glad I left him."
A second woman said: "He is a sly bed hopper who will marry anyone as long as he is sure he will get his money back, and he only knows one way -- swindling women of their hard earned cash while telling them he loves them. I now wish I had never met him."
Zambezi's problems began late in April 2004 when she met Chigwida, 30, who introduced himself as a businessman running a phone and computer dealership in Harare.
"He came across as a lovable person and I soon fell in love with him. In no time, he proposed marriage and paid roora (bride price) to my family. He told me that I could come back to Zimbabwe and settle down with him," Zambezi said.
"We planned a white wedding, and we set a December (2004) date. My sister in the UK helped me find a wedding gown for the big day and we bought many other things. He told me he had taken care of all the arrangements in Zimbabwe.
"When I got home in December, he started telling me we couldn't go ahead. I pressed him why, but he just said that he didn't feel right. He also suggested we should give it more time."
She added: "Because I was in love, I was prepared to forgive him. I didn't have a reason to dump him for what had happened, and he apologised in a way that I genuinely believed him."
Zambezi said in early 2005, Chigwida started asking for favours and financial help. He also suggested that they should buy a housing stand, or a house together where they would live. They settled on a stand, she said.
"He already has a couple of houses, and I have my own. But I saw the point in his idea that we should buy a stand together. We found a stand in Harare and he told me he had bought it after I sent him money. He sent me the paperwork, which was all in his name, but I had no reason to panic.
"Soon after, he told me that his workers were unpaid and asked for financial assistance. I sent him money to take care of that because I thought we could help each other out."
In early 2005, Zambezi says she discussed her future with Chigwida and he agreed that she should work for another year in the UK before going back to Zimbabwe to settle with him.
"After that, I sent him several mobile phones which he sold at his shop. He started asking for more money, and he shocked me one day when he said I should buy him a Mercedes ML.
"He already has three cars and I didn't understand why he needed a fourth.
"I took a loan from the bank, found a cut-price ML which I shipped to Johannesburg where my uncle received it. I wanted the car to arrive in Zimbabwe while I was there as a surprise."
She added: "I went home in December last year and Edward didn't come to the airport to meet me like he normally does. I was met by one of his drivers who told me he was under instruction that we were not to go to Edward's house.
"I found that really strange. I met him later, but we didn't go to his house. We were meeting at my house. Days later, he asked me if I could pay the annual subscription for his satellite TV dish with my credit card which I did under the understanding he would give me the equivalent in Zimbabwe dollars."
Two days later, Zambezi said, Chigwida came and told her the card had been rejected and demanded his money back which she handed over.
She said: "He was starting to be really nasty, and at that time, I had not given him the car which seemed to be the cause of his change in character.
"I was beginning to feel insecure. It seemed to me that he was only interested in material things, and not me. I confronted his mother who was and still is a wonderful person.
"She was forthright with me. She told me that Edward was now married to a 17-year-old girl. His mother said he took the young girl without the knowledge of the parents and went to Nyanga. The girl's parents apparently demanded that he should marry her to stop them pursuing the issue further.
"I later learnt from various sources that he had previously married the daughter of a top female businessman (name withheld) in Harare. Suddenly, I was hearing stories about other women including three others in the UK."
Zambezi said she wanted out of the relationship and called off the delivery of the Mercedes. She was ready to fly back to the United Kingdom when Chigwida allegedly bribed some police officers to cancel her scheduled flight to the UK under the pretext that she was a wanted fugitive.
She revealed: "It was a real nightmare. My ticket was a special offer and I couldn't change it. I waited a few days and got to clear the issue with immigration officers. Luckily, I had some money remaining and I bought a ticket to go to the UK."
Looking back, Zambezi says she should have seen the signs but was blinded by love.
She said: "When you are in love sometimes, fantasy becomes reality and vice versa. There were signs which I should have read, but I didn't. My friends in Zimbabwe say they couldn't tell me of what they knew fearing that I would feel they were out to wreck my marriage.
"Edward is a clever, calculating man. He sees marriage as a way of making money. His main target appears to be women living outside Zimbabwe who only see him during brief periods.
"I am convinced he would marry a goat as long as it has potential to give him money and buy him cars. I am not his first victim, and I am not his last, which is what worries me."
We asked Chigwida
to react to these allegations but he professed ignorance of all the
three women, including Zambezi. However, we later recorded him threatening
to harm Zambezi if she gave any more newspaper interviews.
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