Siphakeme .Mnindwa
Gibson Mhaka
AS Oscar Wilde once wrote, “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.”
Biggie Dube (57), an inmate at Khami Maximum Prison who made headlines recently when he married his high school sweetheart, Blessing Tafirenyika (56), in a colourful ceremony held within the prison walls perfectly exemplifies this adage.
Following his candid confession about a promiscuous past, a tapestry woven with both triumphs and tragedies, it suggests a surprising shift in Dube’s life, hinting at a newfound commitment and a desire for redemption.
However, Dube’s past, like a shattered mirror, reflected an extraordinary life far from the ordinary.
He once made headlines for his self-proclaimed promiscuity in a 2021 interview with the B-Metro newspaper.
In that interview, he confessed to his past life as a pastor at the Church of Christ in Bikita, Masvingo Province, where he exploited his position of trust to have sexual relations with female congregants who sought his guidance and assistance.
Pastor Dube, as he was popularly known, confessed to B-Metro that within a short space of six months, he managed to have sex with nearly half of the female population of his church.
“When I was ordained as a pastor under the Church of Christ, I was already married.
However, I soon discovered a major challenge within myself: I was not satisfied with the woman that I had married.
“So, this forced me to have numerous girlfriends, both within and outside the church.
In church, I took advantage of those ladies who would come to me for counselling and most of these ladies were vulnerable as they were having problems in their marriages.
“I remember within a period of six months I managed to bed nearly half of the female members in my church,” Dube told B-Metro.
He said things later went out of control when one of the ladies that he was dating in Bikita discovered that she was pregnant.
The lady told the pastor about the pregnancy, but in response, the man of the cloth denied responsibility and this did not go down well with the lady.
“From the relationships that I had with the female congregants from my church, I made it a point that I slept with almost all of them and from that habit, I impregnated one of the ladies, who later let the cat out of the sack.
“The lady, out of stress, shared her issue with other female congregants and by doing so she alerted other ladies, who I was also dating, that I had a number of girlfriends within the same church,” he said.
Dube said from these confessions, two female congregants later sat down and hatched a plan to press charges of rape as a way of fixing him.
The issue was reported to the police and he was arrested.
“When I was picked up by the police, my superiors at church were notified about the issue and during that time a lot of women were forthcoming to report that I had raped them. I realised then that my future was doomed.
“A docket was prepared and at first it had five counts of rape from two women and from the investigations by the police, they decided to remain with one woman, who was alleging that I had sexually assaulted her twice,” he said.
Dube was found guilty of having raped one of the congregants, who had approached him in serious need of counselling as she was having problems with her husband.
The magistrate was convinced by the prosecutor that although Dube and the woman were having an affair, Dube had at one time raped her, resulting in her falling pregnant.
“I told the magistrate that the woman in question was actually my girlfriend for more than two years and we had been sleeping together since then.
The magistrate said she had nothing against their relationship, but on the day in question the complainant never consented to sleeping with him.
“When I heard that statement coming from the magistrate that is when I realised that I was in serious trouble and from the trial it was agreed that I should be imprisoned for 31 years as I was very dangerous to be in the streets,” he said.
In a recent interview with our sister paper, Sunday News, Dube also acknowledged his promiscuous past, describing it not only as a habit that led to his incarceration but also as a factor that has now compelled him to commit to Tafirenyika through a lawful, holy matrimony.
“I was in the habit of having so many girlfriends and as we speak I have 13 children with several women. Over the years I separated with Tafirenyika whom we met in 1987 at Dadaya Mission and went on to have four children.
“After these separation episodes, that is when I engaged in promiscuous activities till I met the lady who got me arrested,” narrated Dube just before the wedding.
Although the reasons for Tafirenyika’s renewed relationship with Dube remain unclear, she stated that she committed to a wedding at the prison not only to demonstrate her love for him but also to inspire other women whose husbands are incarcerated to continue supporting them, as they will come out at some point.
She emphasised that imprisonment does not signify the end of life.
“I have known Biggie since 1987, but along the way we separated, but ended up re-uniting again. I realised that we made a mistake, the reason why he was in prison was that I had left him. If I had not left him, I do not think he was going to be here.
“So I am here to tie our union with him. I am also doing this to show other ladies out there that when your man is incarcerated, it is not the end of the world. You have to wait for them, they need our support, so this is my big day,” said Tafirenyika.
After the court verdict, he said;
“Soon after being convicted, I was moved to Mutimurefu Prison and when I got there, I never thought I was going to make it as I had a lot of issues on my mind as my wife had already abandoned me during my trial.
“From that judgment I told myself that prison was going to be a place where I would start a new life considering that I had wronged society by taking advantage of the congregants, who approached me in serious need of my services, but I took that situation to my advantage by using those women to quench my sexual appetite,” he said.
He added: “When I got to prison, I discovered that my health was deteriorating very fast so I was urged to go for an HIV test and it was discovered that I was actually positive.
“Later I then moved to Khami Prison. A lot of inmates by then were actually afraid of getting tested, so this forced me to come up with a concept called Khami Opportunistic Infections Organisation (KOICO).
“This group was created to try and educate other inmates to go for testing so that they could start their medication on time to avoid unnecessary loss of life.”
Meanwhile, according to sources, the woman who had Dube arrested is reportedly staying at his house in Old Lobengula suburb.
Whether this situation may have contributed to Tafirenyika’s renewed commitment to their relationship remains to be seen. However, it could not be immediately established how many years he was left in prison.
