A BRIDE has been left in a state of shock after her groom’s wife interrupted their wedding ceremony, accompanied by her two children.
Video footage of the moment was posted to Twitter on February 7 and has already been viewed over 55,000 times.
The wedding was interrupted by Sheron Chitowa, the groom’s first wife, according to a Harare Metro report. The report also claimed that the footage was from a wedding in Zimbabwe’s capital.
The groom, Everisto Mukura, appeared to make attempts to calm Chitowa down as she spoke to the wedding guests. The bride, identified as Anne Ntini Dube, was quickly led to a chair and consoled by other guests as she attempted to hide her face from the person recording the video.
Chitowa claimed that Mukura had four other wives, including herself, and told guests that the bride was aware of this.
‘Everisto deserves to be treated that way because he knew that he has four wives,’ she said, according to an AdamOnline report.
‘We have different types of marriage acts in our country and he should have chosen one that goes with his beliefs or preferences.
‘A white wedding is for men who are comfortable with one wife.
‘As for Anne, she wasted our time in preparing two bridal showers when she was aware that Everisto had four wives.
‘The two have shamed us. They invited us to a shameful wedding.’
Towards the end of the video the bride is led away as Chitowa continued to protest. The bride was later spotted being escorted out of the wedding with an orange cloth covering her head to avoid being photographed.
There are three types of marriages in Zimbabwe.
The first type of marriage is civil marriage which is between one husband and wife.
‘This is a marriage governed and registered under the Marriage Act [Chapter 5:11] formerly known as Chapter 37,’ Nyampafene Law Firm wrote on its website.
‘This kind of marriage is monogamous, meaning it is between one husband and one wife.
‘A wife or husband cannot contract any other marriage after having entered into this kind of marriage, if they do so they would have committed an offense called bigamy and an aggrieved party can sue for adultery damages.’
The second type of marriage is a customary marriage, which allows a husband to have more than one wife.
‘This type of marriage is governed and registered under the Customary Marriages Act [Chapter 5:07],’ the law firm wrote.
‘This marriage is potentially polygamous meaning a husband is allowed to have more than one wife.
‘This however is not the same for women. A husband is allowed to sue for adultery damages if his wife is unfaithful whilst the wife cannot do the same.’
The third type of marriage is an unregistered customary law union, where the parties involved do not register their marriage in terms of the law.
‘This is a customary law union where lobola [bride price] is paid but parties do not register their marriage in terms of the law, hence the name unregistered customary law union,’ the law firm added.
‘It is commonly known as kuchaya mapoto. This type of marriage is also potentially polygamous.’