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Tafadzwa Zimoyo, Entertainment Editor
If it was a television series, we would be now on the fourth season, and temperatures would be rising, going to the next level as a free for all with musician Selmor, sister Sandra and Daisy (Tuku’s widow) strutting it out on stage.
Well, the saga continues in the late Dr Oliver Mtukudzi family after his daughters spilled the beans on Thursday afternoon.
What started as a small fire now, has become a veld fire, uncontrollable.
There is no winner, it is family issues.
It all began with songstress Selmor failing to perform at her father’s commemoration event dubbed Oliver Mtukudzi International Festival of the Arts (OMIFA) held at Pakare Paye Arts Centre in Norton.
She was emotional with what she remembered at the back of her mind.
This did not go well with some sectors of the arts world after they had pleaded with the organisers to include her on the line up. They had come to watch her perform but alas it was a different story.
Stories and news started coming from all angles dividing the nation.
Selmor and her United Kingdom-based sister Sandra then took the matter to a podcast hosted by DJ Ollah 7 where they wanted to clear the air. In the process, they divulged some of the family secrets on how they were treated by their stepmother.
Some claim biased since Daisy was supposed to be on the interview as well. But it seems the two girls had a right to reply on what was circulating and it was their decision to select where to air their views.
Now they have shared some of what the world deemed as “anomalies”, being allegedly done by their stepmother.
Their rift has attracted mixed reactions with the nation as it is now divided.
It seems now the role play has changed with the late singer Dr Tuku being the main actor. Should the world judge that he failed to unite his family while still alive?
The bad part of this dispute is that when all this was happening back then, we were not there. But we choose to believe what is being said now and of course some of it has some evidence and witnesses. But what is wrong is wrong. It should be condemned. Social media was agog with the tempers flaring.
Former Sunday Mail Features Editor Garikai Mazara said what Selmor and Sandra did was a wrong move.
“Whatever they say, it’s going to be wrong. You don’t right a wrong by another wrong, you don’t wash your dirty linen in public,” he posted.
“Different family issue, same perspective: These were my feelings in 2021, three years ago, and these are still my feelings today. No matter the nature of our differences, there is no need to solve family issues in public or on public forums.
“Chivanhu chedu chakaendepiko? I am saying this in light of the Mtukudzi saga, this family needs to sit down and solve their issues and differences. Hakuna madzisahwira here kwanaMtukudzi?
“But given the bitterness running through the seams of the Mtukudzi family, it is not going to be a walk in the park, trying to reconcile them. Best of wishes to whoever will be tasked with uniting them.”
Another social media commentator, Calvin Gilan Nare Jnr said the interview was emotional and it made him respect Selmor and Sandra for opening up.
“Okay the interview was emotional. I agree, but what made me respect these two ladies is that after all the abuse they faced, the differences they had or still have with their stepmom and the hate in the family, they still call Daisy ‘mhamha vedu’, with a smile on their faces,” he said.
“Handina kutombonzwa vachiti, stepmom kana kuti ziMai riye or any bad word zvaro.”
United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean Jane Mukandi said one fanatic identified as Tutsi blamed the late singer Tuku.
Tutsi said, “There are moments in life when we must pause and reflect on the legacies we leave behind.”
“I, like thousands of other Zimbabweans, watched the interview with Selmor and Sandra Mtukudzi, guided by DJ Ollah. For years, the stories of Tuku’s family life were shrouded in whispers and speculations, but today, the veil has been lifted,” she said.
“The image we held of our beloved musical legend is not quite what it seemed. Life, it seems, is full of contradictions. A man may sing with beauty for the world, but the song he sings at home might be quite different.”
“Tuku’s music, a river of wisdom, moved nations, soothed hearts, and spoke to the soul.”
“But behind that voice, behind the melodies that stirred millions, there is a different, sad song. It seems the man who could speak to the world failed to listen to the quiet voices in his own house.
“There were moments in that interview that stood out to me, moments that tugged at the threads of my understanding. First, how does a father leave his own daughter in the care of a garden boy, while he goes to live with his chosen wife and children?”
“The very idea unsettles the mind. How do we reconcile this with Tuku, the one we celebrated, our legend, with the man who made such choices? It is a difficult thing to hold to heart, harder still to comprehend.”
“If you have known me long enough on social media, you will remember the days that Tuku was my profile picture for months, the days I even called myself Tutsi Tuku Mwanaka.”
“Then, there was the story of the girls eating food cooked in the same pot as the dog’s. How could these girls, Tuku’s own blood, have been left to endure such a thing under their father’s watchful eyes?
“How could he? And finally, there is the moment that feels most poignant. In the fading days of his life, as death hovered near, he reached for his daughters. Sixty odd years had passed, and only two days before the end, he makes a final attempt to record a song with his daughters.
“No! It was more than just a song. It was a failed father reaching out, a quiet and desperate gesture. The sound of a father seeking what had been lost.
“It is a moment full of sorrow, a man whose wisdom had not always found its way into the spaces closest to him, now trying, at the last, to fill those gaps.
“One cannot help, but wonder about Daisy, his wife. Her heart seems as cold as her face, as distant as the years between them. How does one come to such bitterness, to such hatred for her husband’s children? After all, in this case, Tuku was already married when they met.”
It reminds me of the song Mudiwa Janet. Ko kana watora murume, chidawo kavana vake, inga ndiwe une murume wani. Could she have found inspiration in another widow of music’s greats, Rita Marley, perhaps?
The wife of Bob Marley. Rita, with grace, embraced Bob Marley’s 11 children, only three of whom were her own. She took on the role of uniting them, of building a legacy not just of music, but of family, without letting fear or jealousy cloud her vision.
These two women, Daisy and Rita, how much they have in common. Both married to musical giants. Both privy to the intimate whispers of men who shaped nations with their art. And both faced with the challenge of husbands who had many children with other women.
Yet how different their responses, their choices. Rita built a legacy of love, while Daisy’s story is one of separation, of walls built where bridges could have stood. Legacies are not just songs sung to the world, but the quiet melodies we leave in the hearts of those closest to us”.
Malcom Moyo agreed with other fans of Selmor that what they did was right.
“These two ladies have earned my respect, I love them on a personal level. But after listening to the interview, I now love them more. Pamwe pacho we judge vanhu tisina ma facts Sandra she said,”
“Pavaidya nerice ini ndaibikirwa sadza mupoto inobikirwa sadza rembwa pano pakurirwa imbwa ndipo paipakurwa sadza rangu ndaidya sadza raibikwa mupoto yeimbwa.”
“I relate a lot panyaya yavo and what they faced kupfurikidza neseparation yevabereki because I also faced a lot of things after my mom and my daddy separated, a story for another day. But this has proven beyond measure kuti Mama Daisy havade chekuyita nevana vemurume and she never accepted them from the beginning.”
Singer Michael Lanas asked, for what it’s worth: “When a man gets divorced, he does not divorce his children. Some women are just vindictive and malicious. By the same token, children should not take sides when parents separate.
“A man has an obligation to provide for his children regardless of whether they are from a previous marriage or illegitimate.”
“If Selmor was my daughter, I would fight for her rights until the day I die, and she would definitely be in my will. If I was Selmor, I would have declined to perform and I would have arranged my own concert instead.
“She is a beautiful and very talented young lady and I wish her well. There is a lesson for all in this sad saga.
Online Reporter