Ntombizodwa Mangota, the second wife of the late liberation war hero and musician Dickson “Cde Chinx” Chingaira, has spoken publicly about her struggles since his passing. She revealed that she left their matrimonial home with nothing and that her children inherited nothing from their father.
In her own words, she told the Sunday Mail:
“I realised that as a young widow, I had a life to live and children to care for, so I decided to move on. I do not regret it because I felt unwanted and there was no way I could stay when I realised there was nothing I could provide for my young children.”
Mangota, now 51, said she walked away from the Sentosa house in Harare that had been handed over to Chinx in May 2017, just weeks before his passing.
The widow recalled how difficult the journey has been for her family.
“At one point, my children asked me if Cde Chinx was genuinely their father since they inherited nothing,” she said.
She added that she continues to comfort them while working hard to provide.
“One of them is now 27 and the other is 19. I had my own child before I married Cde Chinx and that child is now 33.”
Mangota, who once served in the Zimbabwe Republic Police, explained that she retired early and turned to farming on her Marondera plot.
“For your information, I took a huge gamble when I retired and decided to work hard for my children. The only challenge I have now is of inputs although I still do farming.”
Despite the hardships, she stressed she had no regrets about not fighting for her late husband’s estate.
This is not the first time Mangota has spoken about her struggles. In June 2019, she revealed that she had been left destitute after being excluded from Chinx’s estate.
Then, she expressed her frustration with the way her marriage was treated:
“I’m now being treated like I was his who_re, I was his wife. My father in-law and my husband’s sisters are the ones that came to pay lobola to my people. His children are there. The whole world knew that Cde Chinx had two wives. Why was I treated that way?”
