ALICK Macheso is to marry a second wife after confirming a year-long romance with his daughter’s friend.
The 42-year-old Orchestra Mberikwazvo frontman has been seeing Tafadzwa Mapako, 28, behind his wife’s back.
And in a forthright interview on Monday, Macheso told the Herald: “Tafadzwa is my girlfriend and we have been going out for one-and-a-half years. I will soon be paying lobola for her so that we can formalise everything.
"I don’t know why people want to persecute me over this affair. Am I the only man who is having a relationship? Zvakaipei zvandiri kuita? Ndini ndatanga nazvo here? (What’s wrong with what I’m doing? Am I the first to have an affair?"
Macheso claims his current wife, mother of five Nyadzisai, has accepted Tafadzwa into their home, but she denies this. Instead, Nyadzisai says she only knows Tafadzwa as a friend of her 24-year-old daughter, Sharon.
"It’s news to me. I'm hearing it for the first time," she said when asked about Macheso’s claims.
Nyadzisai added: “Don’t listen to the rumours, she is my daughter’s friend. At one time, she was even organising Sharon’s papers’ so that she could pursue her studies in Canada.
"But we could not let her go because of her condition. She is diabetic."
And Macheso’s mum Emilia appeared to back her daughter in law, telling the Herald: “It’s false. You say my son is marrying a second woman? From where? He was here earlier today, we cooked sadza and matemba for him and he ate ... we know nothing about a second wife.”
But Tafadzwa – who has lived in the United States -- declared her undying love for the sungura star.
"For starters I am not a gold digger. I love Alick very much and we have got common interests," she said.
Music fans would be concerned for the star following the tragedy that befell Utakataka Express frontman Tongai Moyo in May.
The singer’s wife, Barbara, killed herself after learning he was taking a second wife.