Zim widow tries to evict husband’s gay lover

A Zimbabwe widow has gone to court to evict a man who says he was her husband’s gay lover for almost 20 years.

According to The Herald, Bruce Kazembe, 32, has claimed that the late Masiye Moyo, who was in his fifties, “sodomised me since I was 11-years-old and I contracted HIV in the process.”

He says that Moyo, who worked for the United Touring Company in Victoria Falls and died on May 19, gave him a four room house in the suburb of Chinotimba to ensure his silence.

“I’m surprised I’m being evicted because he offered me the house to conceal this wickedness,” insists Kazembe. “I’ve been disowned by my parents and the court should consider my status. I can’t fend for myself and I can’t marry anymore.”

Moyo’s wife, Christina Sibanda, 38, has asked the courts to evict Kazembe, claiming that he is staying in the house illegally and broke in after she locked it up.

Sibanda says she lived in the family’s rural home while her husband and Kazembe stayed together at the Victoria Falls house as “family friends.”

In an August 2014 interview, Kazembe said that after he was initially seduced by Moyo as a young boy, he “consented” to the relationship and they lived as “husband and wife,” with the older man paying for all his expenses.

Neighbours are said to have told the Chronicle that the men were a “known couple” in Victoria Falls.

In 2013, Kazembe decided to end the relationship with Moyo. “We broke up because I discovered I was sick and I told him he was responsible. That is when he offered me this house so that I would not report the issue.”

At the time Moyo denied the claims, telling the Chronicle: “I stayed with that boy for a long time as my nephew since the time I rented at his parents’ place and when I got a house he asked to come and stay with me. It pains me a lot because I thought I was only helping out.”

Before his death, Moyo reportedly gave his wife power of attorney to manage all his assets.

Gay sex and public affection are illegal in Zimbabwe, with penalties of up to three years in jail. Same-sex marriage is also illegal, as entrenched in the country’s Constitution.