The Sunday News
WHAT happened to Tabitha, Takundwa and Fatima’s last born daughter? She mysteriously disappeared, later declared a missing person. The logical conclusion is that she was killed. But who killed her is the question. We get a hint when Takundwa tells Nyati of the dreams he has. He says those dreams are still troubling him. “Those dreams — they are still troubling me. These days I can’t even sleep. She keeps coming. I am getting frightened of falling asleep these days.” Nyati responds to his concerns reminding him that he had told him to stop worrying about harmless dreams. Takundwa is superstitious as he contemplates seeing another n’anga as he needs stronger charms to help fight off his dreams.
Who keeps coming to Takundwa? Nyati adds that those dreams are in Takundwa’s head, they do not exist anywhere. He says he sometimes wonders how a grown up man like Takundwa can be so frightened of a mere dream. I smell a rat. Nyati and Takundwa know exactly what happened to Tabitha. Talk of ritual murders in order to get rich. Nyati continues to blame his wife Fatima and daughter Sofia for all his problems.
Takundwa says he is going to get rid of his wife as soon as he gets rich enough to get a better wife. He asks how on earth he would achieve his goals, with such a wife who is only good at stealing his money and sending it to her relatives. He claims to have invested more than $20 000 in that tuck-shop but all that money has disappeared into thin air. All these are far-fetched accusations levelled against his wife. This is male chauvinism at its best because Takundwa does not accept the fact that he is responsible for the near collapse of the tuck-shop. He takes all the money raised from the tuck-shop and spends it on beer.
He has a scapegoat, his wife. He blames her for all his misfortunes. Takundwa refers to his wife as the chief source of his problems. He decides to approach his son-in-law for another loan which will partially solve his problems. The son-in-law is old man Nyati. Then he identifies his daughter Sofia as another problem when it comes to dealing with his son-in-law. He says Sofia is a problem because she does not realise how important Nyati is to him. He wishes Sofia could learn to be a good wife. He says she has completely failed to impress Nyati as a wife.
Women are always on the rough end of the stick. He blames his wife Fatima for his daughter’s shortcomings. Takundwa claims that the failure of Sofia’s marriage is Fatima’s fault. She failed to teach her daughter the importance of a husband. He says he cannot understand why Sofia fails to realise how lucky she is to get married to such a rich husband. Takundwa is materialistic. He wants to get rich at the expense of his daughter’s freedom and wishes.
We witness different views from father and daughter when it comes to the institute of marriage. Takundwa is looking at Nyati’s riches and wants to get something from them through forcibly marrying his daughter to Nyati. He doe not realise that money cannot buy love. Sofia does not love Nyati the old man. We have heard that she loves Jeremiah who is younger than Nyati. The need for a $10 000 loan and the persistent nightmares he has, drive Takundwa to his son-in-law Nyati.
When Takundwa gets to Nyati he tells him that he has problems. Nyati is sarcastic about the whole issue of problems. He repeats the word problems a couple of times and says he knew and could tell the moment Takundwa came that another problem had come. It is not a new problem that Takundwa brings to Nyati as he says he knew that it is always a money problem. Nyati says he is yet to see Takundwa without a money problem in his mind. Takundwa should have sensed that Nyati was no longer interested in his money problems but he is foolish enough to continue saying more on the subject.
Takundwa goes on to lambast his wife Fatima for his money problems. When Nyati asks what happened to the money he gave to him before, Takundwa says his wife stole it and sent it to her relatives. He adds that she stole every cent she could lay her hands on from the tuck-shop. He says he is going to send her away. Having spoken about the problem of wives, Nyati also tells Takundwa that he is facing a similar problem with one of his wives who has found herself a boyfriend.
There is irony at play here because Takundwa quickly suggests that Nyati should divorce her before getting the identity of the wife. He tells Nyati to chase her right away. Nyati asks if Takundwa is recommending that he divorce the particular wife. Nyati is quite emphatic and labels her an unfaithful wife saying if it were him he would have chased her a long time ago. When he asks who the ungrateful wife is, Nyati drops a bombshell that it is his daughter Sofia.
When Nyati disclosed that the problem wife was Sofia, Takundwa went berserk. Find out more on this in the next episode.
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