I’m the one who impregnated Patience Mangwiro, not Martin: Ex-husband pulls a shocker as Muduva’s love saga takes new twist

HARARE — Daniel Zavirima, the former husband of Patience Mangwiro, has stepped into the bitter dispute surrounding the death of Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Commissioner Martin Muduva, insisting that he is the biological father of the young girl recently drawn into the tragedy.

Zavirima said the child was his daughter and expressed anger that her image had become part of the public conversation after Muduva was killed at his home in Dzivarasekwa Extension last week. He said a social media post had created the impression that the child belonged to the late commissioner, leaving him concerned about the effect of the claims on the girl and her future.

The dispute emerged after Mangwiro posted a photograph of Muduva holding a girl. She captioned the image with the question, “tichasara nani?” The post was made as the shock over Muduva’s death was still unfolding, and it quickly became part of the intense discussion about his relationship with Mangwiro, his first wife Lyliosa Chirara and the family tensions that preceded the deaths.

Zavirima said he was disgusted that his daughter had been dragged into the matter. He described Mangwiro’s decision to publish the photograph as “DISGUSTING” and “DEPLORABLE”, saying the image suggested that the child was Muduva’s daughter even though he remained alive and able to speak about her paternity.

“I am very sure that I am the father of Patience Mangwiro’s daughter, the one she posted on social media in the arms of Commissioner Muduva,” Zavirima said.

“The post suggests that my daughter is Muduva’s child. If the daughter is not mine, then DNA tests will prove that.”

Zavirima said he married Mangwiro in 2018 and that they held a white wedding the following year in Masvingo. Their relationship broke down towards the end of 2022 after what he described as complicated problems linked to infidelity. He said the marriage certificate had since been cancelled and that he was now happily married to another woman.

“We have since cancelled the marriage certificate and I am now happily married to another woman,” he said.

He insisted that Muduva was not responsible for the collapse of his marriage. Zavirima said the breakdown happened at the same time that he lost his job, adding that the two events deepened the difficulties he was facing at the time.

Mangwiro did not respond to questions about the paternity claim. She cited workplace protocol when contacted for comment.

When she was contacted for comment last week, Mangwiro made it clear that she did not want to discuss the case.

The child paternity claim has added another layer to a tragedy that has already left two families mourning separately and police investigating two deaths. Muduva, 42, died at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals after suffering serious injuries in an axe attack at his home. Chirara, 43, a nurse based in Dzivarasekwa Extension, later died after consuming poison.

Police are treating the incident as a murder and a sudden death by suicide. National police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said investigators were still working on the case and had not received the note reported to have been written by Chirara.

“The Zimbabwe Republic Police is yet to see the suicide note reported to have been left by the deceased. Police are investigating the murder and sudden death by suicide cases in Dzivarasekwa Extension,” Comm Nyathi said at the time.

The note was reportedly found while Chirara’s belongings were being packed before her burial in Njanja, Hwedza. Her clothes and other personal items were placed in the grave in keeping with traditional customs, but relatives discovered documents among the belongings before the burial arrangements were completed.

Nancy Tembo, a close friend of Chirara, said the note was hidden among clothes and other documents. She said the Chirara family read it after the Muduva family had objected to it being read, causing further tension between the two families.

“We discovered the suicide note while packing her belongings in preparation to go to Njanja for burial.

“After informing the Muduva family about the note, they did not want it read, but the Chirara family read it.

“That caused more discord and we left the house in a huff as some Muduva family members had been angered by some members of Chirara’s family,” Tembo said.

Tembo also said none of the Muduva family members witnessed Chirara’s burial. The two families have continued to deal with the deaths in separate settings as more details about the couple’s private life have emerged.

The reported note contained accusations that Muduva had withdrawn from the marriage and had secretly formalised a relationship with Mangwiro. It said Chirara believed her husband had stopped sharing a bedroom with her after obtaining his doctorate and had become distant as his professional and financial fortunes improved.

“From 2022 to 2025 he never entered our bedroom and he never had sex with me because he now had a PhD so his PhD did not want him to have sex with a woman who was not educated,” she wrote.

She also alleged that she learnt about Muduva’s relationship with Mangwiro after seeing a social media post about a roora ceremony. The ceremony, known as lobola in many Zimbabwean communities, marked a major step in Muduva and Mangwiro’s relationship. The pair were reported to have been together for about five years and to have a child.

Muduva had recently paid lobola for Mangwiro, formalising the union shortly before his death. Mangwiro and Muduva worked at Midlands State University, where Muduva was a lecturer in addition to his public duties. His professional background included electrical and electronics engineering, data science, cybersecurity, information security, digital transformation and corporate risk management.

He was appointed a commissioner of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission in December 2024. The commission promotes, protects and monitors human rights in Zimbabwe. He also served on the Innovation Drive and Assessment Committee under the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.

The note further alleged that Chirara had tried to establish a small egg-production business by keeping 500 chickens at the family home but was forced to sell them after Muduva objected. She also claimed that he told her his earnings were his own business and that she had no right to know how much he made.

“I’m crying, I’m suffering, murume avekundisema, kundisvipira mate nhasi nekuti ave nemari, akanganwa kwatakabva,” she wrote.

The passage accused Muduva of despising her because he had money and had forgotten the difficult years they had shared. Chirara also addressed Mangwiro directly in the note.

“Now, let Patiece Mangwiro be happy because all she wanted was to destroy my marriage with Martin,” she wrote.

She apologised to her relatives and Muduva’s family and said she had wanted to watch her children grow. She ended by asking relatives to look after them.

“My kids, they don’t know anything, yes, I wanted to see them grow but I would still have died because of stress, sorry, I have failed,” she wrote.

“To my mothers, I know I have inflicted pain on you where it hurts the most but understand this letter, I have written it with tears streaming down my cheeks,” she wrote.

“Chisarai mugarike, please take care of my children,” she wrote.

A close relative said Muduva had five children with three women and that he and Chirara had also considered divorce before the relationship deteriorated further. The relative said the couple’s marriage began to shake after Mangwiro entered Muduva’s life and that threats were made during the conflict.

“When Lyliosa got married to Muduva they were blessed with three children. The first-born represented other kids and I am not sure if her mother attended the burial. Their marriage started to shake with the coming in of Patience. There were threats,” the relative said.

The investigation continues as the paternity dispute places renewed attention on the child at the centre of Zavirima’s complaint. He says the girl’s identity should not be decided by a photograph or a caption and has offered DNA testing as the way to settle the question.

For now, the deaths of Muduva and Chirara remain the central focus of the police inquiry, while the families continue to deal with the fallout from a relationship conflict that has widened from a private marital dispute into a public and deeply contested family saga.