After giving birth to her bouncing baby boy on June 5, the late comedian Lazarus “Gringo” Boora’s widow Netsai Meki described the child as “heaven sent, a comforter”. Gringo died on November 9 last year, after being bedridden since August of the same year.
But the bundle of joy has not brought the much-needed happiness into Meki’s life, it seems some family members and social media “police” are simply refusing to give up on her.
Unnecessary questions are being put across, questioning why the baby was born now, despite that the dates tally in that she got pregnant when Gringo was still alive.
Meki says those who question the baby’s paternity should just back off and concentrate on what concerns their lives.
She says she is not concerned by the poking of noses in her life by “unreasonable” people.
“My husband died when I was three months pregnant,” said Meki.
“I was taking care of him while pregnant and sometimes he would say take it easy as he knew about my condition.
“I didn’t share with anyone as I was in grief and as you know according to our Shona culture, when one is three or less pregnant you can’t share the news with anyone.
“I was in the village for the past months and it was very stressful, thinking on how to survive. Those who had made their promises never fulfilled them. I did not have time to trace or check on that, remember they were promises, but what I can say now is nothing has materialised.
Meki, who still resides at the Hatfield house where they were lodging with Gringo, said not many of the family members knew about the baby.
“Actually, some are shocked that I now have a baby,” she said.
“I came out of hospital on a Monday and then called our aunt and (sarapavana) the person who was left to look after the children Mai Musakwa who said she was happy about the news.
“She promised to come and see the baby on Saturday (today). When I called other relatives, they said they were embarrassed to hear the news as they did not know or neither saw me pregnant. I went through pain of losing the husband and the family squabbles that were taking place. I had no energy for all that.”
A family member who refused anonymity, said it remained a mystery why Meki kept quiet about the pregnancy.
“I think what she was supposed to do was to announce to the family, especially close family members about the pregnancy so that we were not to be shocked,” said the family member.
“But anyway, we don’t have that time to judge or challenge for DNA tests, let us just say congratulations. She knows the father.
“We are no longer interested in the drama. Let Gringo lie in peace.”
Meki already has three children with Gringo.
But why did Meki keep it a secret to the family that she was pregnant?
“I delivered my baby boy last Saturday (June 5) at Sally Mugabe Hospital, which is popularly known as Harare Hospital,” said Meki.
“It was around 21.14hrs and the baby was 3kgs.
“The nurses told me the baby was huge, I was unconscious for a while and it was a normal birth. With my late husband, this is the fourth child I have with him. All in all, there are now eight Gringo’s children. I now have four while the first wife had one, the second wife had two and the third wife had one.”
All of Gringo’s children’s names start with the letter “T” — Takudzwa, Tanaka, Taurai, Tanyaradzwa, Tabeth and Terrence.
Well, the new baby is not yet named.
“I am still looking for the right name,” said Meki.
“Yes, we have the junior Gringos’, but I can’t name this one junior, I will have to name him T-something.
The story about the baby aside, Meki said many of those who made promises to help Gringo’s family did not turn up after burial.
“The last story you had about someone pledging to build a house for us, paying school fees and donating food stuff was after the burial and that was that,” she said.
When Gringo died on November 9, 2020 at the age of 47 at Westview Hospital, his close friends, some family members and well-wishers who had been assisting him with hospital bills and everything had promised Meki to help her in taking care of the children.
Well, it seems Gringo died with those promises as soon after the burial that was the last time Meki had the well-wishers speaking about the issues.
“I came back to Harare on 22 March and was busy with the children, preparing them for school,” she said.
“Then in April I started the preparations for the baby and I had to hustle for the funds. Maybe, the Covid-19 situation affected a lot of people, including those who wanted to assist me.”
Meki is still a strong apostolic sect member and said that the church has been very supportive up to now.
“For now, according to our religion, I will have to attend my first church service from giving birth after three weeks,” she said.
“I am a staunch Johanne Masowe church member at Chiedza. They are the ones who buried my husband, so I have respect for them.”
Asked if she was going to remarry, Meki said will never go that route again.
“I think I have done my part,” she said.
“I will never remarry. Imagine having another man taking care of my children. What if he doesn’t like them? For now, it is me and my children, what the people are saying is something else and after what I went through I have developed thick skin.
“I wasn’t happy with some of the stories that were written by other media houses, without contacting me. I was the last wife and was looking after Gringo, hence I should deserve the respect.”
Meki said the so-called Isuzu KB car which Gringo’s eldest son Taurai was fighting for was still at the Hatfield premises.
“I don’t know what will happen next on the issue of the Isuzu KB as you can see it’s still parked outside,” she said.
“It has never moved since the death of my husband.
“Remember, I told you that it was a company car and the owner has the papers, so maybe he is waiting or should I say is giving us time to mourn Gringo, then on the right time he will come and announce the next move.”
