By Robert Zvidza
A pair of identical twins recently made headlines when
they wedded in style with another set of identical twins at a colourful
ceremony held at St Peters United Methodist Church in Chitungwiza. The ceremony
ended with a reception at the giant Aquatic Complex in the dormitory town.
Hundreds witnessed the stylish twins mimicking the
routine marriage vows one after the other, promising each other heaven on earth
and a union that would last till death parted them. They even watched the best
men prepare the groom for the most cherished moments by the attendees -
unmasking the veiled faces and plucking their lips on their elegant brides with
a thousand eyeballs almost dropping from their sockets to catch every action.
It is amazing how people love this episode.
It was official; the pair had become husband and wife.
Mayor Tendai and Lawyer Farai Katonha (30) both employed
by the ZRP were joined in holy matrimony with Nvette Tinenyasha and Yvette Nyasha
Neshamba (19) respectively in glitz and glamour at a ceremony whose bridal team
comprised a set of twins. To add to that, the ceremony was also presided upon by
the pastor who was also a twin. Interestingly, the couples were also born in the
same month of August.
This writer was there amidst the anxiety, jubilation and
admiring crowd and visited the pair at a later date to find out their life
style and how they had been drawn to each other like the moon draws the tide.
Shaking off the shackles of bachelorhood was such an easy
exercise for the two gentlemen a thing that many always want to hold on to.
Soon after their deserved honeymoon in Victoria Falls in Matebeleland North
where they spent a night at Victoria Falls Hotel and several nights at Mutarazi
Falls in Nyanga, they abandoned their bachelor residence in Chitungwiza for
their new home – a spaciously built up stand they acquired from Manyame Rural
District Council at Murisa Business Centre (Chivabva) in the outskirts of
Chitungwiza near Ziko.
At their house, Nvette cuddles comfortably close to Mayor
while on the other end Lawyer and Yvette share a settee warmly. Life of these
newly wedded twins is so intriguing such that hours just snail past until dusk
arrives with the huff and puff of the rush hour. I wished I could have stayed
longer.
“We built the house in 2011 when we were still bachelors
and we had built it in such a way that we would stay here together even after
we marry. We had told ourselves that we did not want to miss each other.”
The house comprises a Dining Room and Lounge, two
identical bedrooms (same measurements and designs) for each of them, a spare
room and a kitchen.
“When we married, both our parents suggested that each of
our wives have her own kitchen basing on the traditional beliefs that it’s
difficult for two women to share the same kitchen. But we are happy our wives
approved of the setting after we asked them what they liked,” said Mayor, the
more talkative of the two.
“We must say we are happy we married twins because they understand
how it feels otherwise we could have had problems had we done it otherwise,”
chips in Lawyer. “That’s what we always wanted since our days at school.”
Yvette takes over: “It was not going to work to make us
have two kitchens because one would simply not cook because she will always
look for the other. We always do things together even fetching water we go
together. Even if one is sent for an errand, we always go together.”
During their early years, it is said that their parents
tried to separate the two girls but they always had problems ranging from
illnesses and depression.
“If one was not feeling well, the other, wherever she
was, would also suffer from the same ailment. The illness would only end when
they are brought together. Since the sixth grade in 2008 until now we have
never been apart from each other. We wear the same clothing and the same colours,”
she said.
As for their husbands, Mayor and Lawyer, their parents
also tried to separate them when they were in grade four in vain. The separation
only lasted for a year.
Several intervening events always occurred
simultaneously when they were apart.
While staying apart, we got detained with the same
ailment on the same day. But a more tragic event that occurred on 19 April 2004
remains vivid in their minds.
“I was traveling in Rose Motorways Bus in Mudzi and I
got involved in an accident and my twin was also involved in an accident on the
same day while travelling in a ZUPCO Bus in Mutoko. We were both hunting for
Form five and six vacancies on the day. That event even shocked our parents
that they didn’t want us to travel again,” said Lawyer.
They took time to explain how they met their wives during
a United Methodist Church Camp for youths in Marondera in June 2013.
“I believe there is some connection that is there in
spirit amongst twins,” explains Lawyer adding, “Sometimes when I travel alone,
it is most common that the person that I get much close to will be a twin. I
also feel it in me when something happens to my twin.
“So when I first met Yvette, I did not know that she was
a twin, and almost at that same time, my twin (Mayor) was also meeting Nvette.
It is because at the youth camp, we would be put in different groups during
discussions and we happened to be in different groups with my twin and so were
our wives. In that instance, we connected and exchanged numbers just like
brothers and sisters,” added Lawyer.
Mayor takes over narration: “When we finally decided to
propose love to them, we just told each other that when we go and see them in
Marondera, the person whom anyone of us greets first is the one we will propose
to. Of course, after several tries we were finally loved.”
“It only took us three months to prepare for the wedding.
After paying lobola on 28 December 2013, we had our first wedding preparatory
meeting on the 2nd of March 2014 and we wedded on the 31st
of May 2014,” he said.
Asked whether they did not confuse their wives, Mayor
told this publication they would confuse especially on the phone as their
voices were similar and confessed that they still face the dilemma to date
though the same cannot be said of the ladies whom he said they had never
experienced that predicament despite the two being so identical.
Nvette and Yvette are so identical save for the fact that
Yvette is slightly shorter than the other and as for Mayor and Lawyer one
cannot note any difference until when they speak. Lawyer has a slight lisp in
his speech (chirimi).
“Most people have confused us but we have gotten used to
it and we brief each other of how we will have worked during the day,” said
Mayor adding that they were happy that their workmates now understood them
better.
Traditional beliefs have always suggested that the twin
who is born last is the older of the two but this interview failed to get an
answer.
“We are the same there is no one older than the
other,” says Yvette the most extrovert between the ladies. “We know there may be
hours between our conception but it is said we cried after the second child was
born. Saka hapana mukuru takafanana,”
she quips.
But for their husbands, theirs is a different story.
“At birth, we were told that some cloths (yellow and
white) were tied on our wrists to determine first and second twin but somehow
those who were taking care of us removed them sighting that it would look like
they were being ritualistic. That confused it all to the extent that even our
names were shifted between us several times. So we don’t even know who came
first,” said Mayor.
Mayor and Lawyer grew up in Mudzi District under Village
Chikumo in Chief Nyamukoho’s area in Mashonaland East Province where they also
attended school up to Advanced Level. They were beneficiaries of a scholarship
by the then Member of Parliament for Mudzi, Ray Kaukonde from Form One up to
Form Six. Their wives grew up in Marera Village, Chief Svosve, Marondera, and
attended Dhirihori Primary and Secondary Schools.
The two enterprising twins are already looking forward to
fulfilling their dreams of studying law and one day graduating as lawyers as
one of their names suggest.
“We have a passion for law and one day we will pursue it.
We would also want to empower our wives and make them find something to do,”
they echoed.
Multiple births - twins, triplets or quadruplets - in
some traditions have caused alarm and apprehension because of several myths and
practices have been related to them.
According to Historian, Pathisa Nyathi in his book;
Zimbabwe’s Cultural Heritage (2008), Twins used to face similar prejudices and
misconceptions to albinos, physically challenged children and those who cut the
upper teeth first.
Others believed twins were not ordinary; they were
unusually sharp and clever while others suggested they possessed special powers
from God.
While other twins make headlines for wrong reasons like
the forgotten Fichani twins, who made headlines for going about semi-naked in
kilt skins, others are an epitome of excellence, and exemplary
behaviour.
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