Simbarashe “Simba” Chadiwa is preparing to begin a new chapter of his life with a public wedding ceremony at Harare Gardens on 26 September, nearly two years after he walked out of prison following almost a decade behind bars.
Organisers have named the event Muchato Wenyika, or “Wedding of the Nation”, in recognition of the extraordinary journey that has brought Chadiwa to the ceremony. The 34-year-old is now a father, has rebuilt his life outside prison and is preparing to marry, even as the rape conviction that kept him imprisoned remains attached to his name.
The wedding preparations have moved into their final stage. The bridal clothes have been designed and are ready, the rings have been secured, and the bridal team is being dressed by The Wedding Centre. Dance rehearsals are also under way, with choreographer T-Bone guiding the group through its routines.
Kundai Murengwa, the wedding planner from Tilder Foundation, said the organisers were encouraged by the progress made so far.
“The wedding clothes are now available. We have a designer who designed the clothes for both the bride and the groom.”The Wedding Centre is dressing the bridal team, and the rings are also available,”
The bridal party began classes last Sunday and held another session on Tuesday. A further rehearsal is scheduled for Sunday as the team works towards the ceremony at Harare Gardens.
The organisers have thanked members of the public and supporters who have contributed to the event, but said several important needs had not yet been met. Food supplies remain a concern, with meat the only major item secured so far.
“We are still looking for food supplies. At the moment, we have only secured the meat.”
The bachelor’s party and bridal shower will be held a week before the wedding, on the same day but at separate venues. The events are expected to give relatives, friends and supporters an opportunity to celebrate the couple before the main ceremony.
Chadiwa’s wedding comes after a case that began in 2015 and followed him through several prisons. He was 23 when he was arrested on 6 May that year after being accused of raping a 10-year-old girl in the Kwekwe area. He has always denied committing the offence.
Chadiwa said he had visited a house in Musimbe, Mbizo, with a close friend who was seeing a woman employed there. The employer was away in Botswana at the time and had left her young daughter in the care of a domestic worker. Chadiwa said a dispute later developed between the employer and the domestic worker, reportedly over church attendance, and that he became involved in the resulting accusations because he had previously visited the house.
“As a bosom buddy, I would accompany him on the occasional visits to see his girlfriend, taking advantage of the absence of her employer, who at that time was in Botswana,” he said.
He said the allegations claimed that he and the domestic worker had acted together, and that the domestic worker had then tried to silence the child. Both were arrested. Chadiwa said the domestic worker was so distressed that she was taken to hospital, and that he never saw her again.
He was convicted at the Gokwe Regional Magistrate’s Court and sentenced to 20 years in prison, with two years suspended on condition that he did not commit a similar offence. A medical affidavit prepared by a Government Medical Officer stated that there had been no penetration, but Chadiwa remained behind bars.
During his years in custody, he was held at Whawha, Chikurubi Maximum Prison and Harare Central Prison. His identity inside the prison system was reduced to a sequence of numbers: 1011/15 at Chikurubi, 1821 at Harare Central and Prisoner 1869/23 at Whawha.
The routines of prison remained deeply rooted after his release. Chadiwa said each day was organised around fixed meals and strict instructions.
“My routine was one of taking orders and sticking to prescribed time-lines. Breakfast, in the form of a cup of porridge, was served at 8am, lunch at 12 noon and supper at 2pm.”After that, the day was concluded and we would retire to sleep at 3pm,”
He also found it difficult to adjust to people calling him by his name rather than by a prison number. Even ordinary meals and social contact became unfamiliar after years in custody.
On 19 April 2024, Chadiwa was released under the Presidential Amnesty announced during Zimbabwe’s 44th Independence celebrations. The wider clemency exercise resulted in the release of thousands of prisoners, including women, juveniles, elderly inmates, people with disabilities and prisoners who met specified sentence and service requirements. The order also included provisions affecting life sentences and death sentences, while listing rape and other sexual offences among specified offences.
For Chadiwa, release brought freedom but did not settle the events that led to his imprisonment. The case took a major turn in 2023 when the complainant, by then an adult, changed her account. She said she had not been raped by Chadiwa and had been pressured as a child to implicate him.
She described herself as having been “living in hell” while carrying the weight of what she had done. The account led to a meeting between the two after his release, when she asked for forgiveness and extended what was described as an olive branch.
Chadiwa has since been trying to rebuild his family life. His elder brother, Tapiwa, said the family was grateful that he had returned home alive, but believed that a large part of his life had been lost. The family also spent considerable money pursuing appeals and seeking a correction of Chadiwa’s record.
“As a family, we are happy that he is out and alive. The man needs a lot of rest and peace of mind, but we reckon a good part of his life has been washed down the drain.”We have lost considerable financial resources making appeals and we will soldier on until we feel justice has been carried out,”
The wedding therefore carries significance beyond the clothes, rings and rehearsals. It marks Chadiwa’s return to family and public life after years in which his movements, meals and identity were controlled by the prison system. It also brings attention to the continuing consequences of a conviction that he says was based on a false accusation and that the complainant later withdrew.
At Harare Gardens, the couple will be surrounded by a bridal party that has spent weeks learning its routines, relatives who have supported Chadiwa through his years in custody and organisers still trying to secure enough food for the guests. The ceremony is being shaped as a national celebration because the story has reached far beyond one family.
For Chadiwa, however, the day will be personal above all else. It will be the day he stands before family and friends as a groom, not as a prison number, after losing almost a decade of his life to a case that continues to define his past.