The wife of Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission commissioner Martin Muduva said she had been living without intimacy in her marriage for four years before the couple died in a murder-suicide in Harare last week.
Lyliosa Chirara, aged 43, claimed in a note left before her death that Muduva had stopped entering their bedroom and having sex with her from 2022 to 2025. She said he had become distant after obtaining his PhD and believed he needed a more educated wife who understood his work and social standing.
Chirara allegedly attacked Muduva with an axe at their home in Dzivarasekwa Extension on the night of 8 September. He was taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital after suffering serious injuries and died the following morning. Chirara later drank poison and died before the night was over.
Police opened an investigation into the deaths, while the family and the wider public were left trying to understand the events that preceded the brutal attack. The note, written partly in English and partly in Shona, sets out Chirara’s account of a marriage she said had been marked by rejection, financial secrecy and the arrival of another woman.
“Firstly, my relatives, I want to ask for forgiveness for what I have done kuita rufu rwekuzvipa vamwe vachitambura kuti voita sei kuti vararame,” she wrote at the beginning of the letter.
“I have done this because of being tormented and the suffering I have endured for a long time and the distress I have suffered. Admittedly, many think that I have peace of mind but that’s not true and I have only been suffering all my life while my husband was lying to people that he has a lot of love for me while he doesn’t have any. All he was doing was making me suffer and achindishainira all this time. From 2022 to 2025 he never entered our bedroom and he never had sex with me because he now had a PHD so his PHD did not want him to have sex with a woman who was not educated.”
Chirara also complained that Muduva kept his earnings from her and did not treat her as an equal partner in the household. She said she had tried to start a small business by buying 500 chickens for egg production, only for the venture to be stopped.
“He doesn’t have any time for sex with me. The money he has been making, all these years, he said it was his money and, as his wife, I don’t have to know how much money he earns at his workplace,” she wrote.
“I tried to do a hustle and ndakatenga huku dzangu 500 dzemazai akunditi handidi huku pamba ndikadzitengesa.”
The most painful part of the note concerned Muduva’s relationship with Vongai Patience Mangwiro, an academic who was identified as his second wife. Chirara said Muduva had spent a year living with his girlfriend before returning home and telling her that he had found a “proper wife” who fitted his status.
“He has spent a whole year staying with his girlfriend and he came back to tell me that he finally found a proper wife who fits his status, a wife who knows IT and a wife he can take to public gatherings,” she wrote.
Chirara said Muduva travelled with relatives to marry Mangwiro without telling her. She only learnt about the ceremony after seeing a status update showing the couple’s roora, or bride-price, celebrations.
“He went to secretly marry the woman, he went with his relatives and I only learnt about it when I saw it on a status she posted about the Roora Day.”
The note also referred to an earlier statement by Muduva that his first wife, whom he called “Mai Ashy”, was no longer the right woman for him. Chirara said she understood that some people might judge her decisions, but insisted that years of distress had left her unable to cope.
“Understandably, you can say that I got it wrong in terms of my thinking but forgive me I have been made to suffer for a very long time, let me rest now,” she wrote.
“With all the suffering I have endured until now, today my husband then starts saying that Mai Ashy is no longer the right wife for me.
“Forgive me my relatives I have taken the wrong decision but I have done it because of the suffering that I have endured. Leave me to rest. My kids, they don’t know anything, yes, I wanted to see them grow but I would still have died because of stress, sorry, I have failed.”
She directly addressed Mangwiro several times, saying the other woman could now be happy because she had wanted to destroy her marriage. Chirara also referred to a vow that her union with Muduva would only end in death.
“Now, let Patiece Mangwiro be happy because all she wanted was to destroy my marriage with Martin,” she wrote.
“As I had vowed to Martin that our union would only be ended by death, this is the death that I meant.”
The letter included an emotional message to Muduva’s family, accusing some relatives of supporting the new marriage while ignoring her complaints. Chirara said she had told them about her suffering but was told not to expect them to intervene in the couple’s problems.
“To the Muduva family I know I have hurt you a lot but forgive me. Now you can be happy that it’s done, go and take Patience Magwiro, the one you went to marry secretly,” she wrote.
“She is the right daughter-in-law who is educated and can protect Martin’s house while also providing you with everything that you wish for in life. I, the fool, the dog, the waste, has gone.”
She also named a senior relative, whom she accused of encouraging Muduva to find an educated wife who understood his professional life and respected him. According to the note, the same relative had declined to become involved when Chirara spoke about problems in the marriage but attended the ceremony involving Mangwiro.
“Babamukuru Baba va Philip, be happy, all that you wanted has come to pass, you were the one encouraging Martin to get an educated wife because the wife that he had was no longer fit for him, he needed a wife who understood the way he worked and who respected him,” she wrote.
“You went to marry, you did well. You went as the father and that’s exactly what you should have done. I was always trying to tell you how I was suffering but I could see that you didn’t have any concern about what I was telling you until you told me that you didn’t want to intervene in our problems.
“But, you intervened when Patience Mangwiro was being married because you wanted her. Chisarai mugarike, please take care of my children.”
Muduva, 42, was appointed to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission on 19 December 2024. He was also a lecturer in the Information Sciences and Marketing Department at Midlands State University and had worked as a technology risk and assurance consultant.
An electrical engineer by training, he held several postgraduate qualifications, including a doctorate in data science, and had expertise in information and communications technology, cybersecurity, emerging technologies, data science and digital transformation. He also served on the Innovation Drive and Assessment Committee under the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.
The commission described his death as “a devastating loss to the commission and to all those who had the privilege of working with him”.
The investigation into the deaths continued as both families prepared to bury a couple whose final days had exposed years of private conflict, a second marriage and a household left grieving for the children named in Chirara’s final message.
“Chisarai mugarike, please take care of my children.”
Mangwiro and Muduva had reportedly been in a relationship for about five years and had a child together. Muduva had recently paid lobola for her, formally sealing the union.
The deaths left Chirara’s three children without their mother and Muduva’s child with Mangwiro without a father. Burial discussions between the two families reportedly broke down after harsh words were exchanged, with relatives agreeing to suspend the meeting and reconvene later.
Muduva, 42, was appointed to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission on 19 December 2024. He was also a lecturer in the Information Sciences and Marketing Department at Midlands State University and worked as a technology risk and assurance consultant.
He also served on the Innovation Drive and Assessment Committee under the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe. The commission described his death as “a devastating loss to the commission and to all those who had the privilege of working with him”.