HARARE – Stella Manatsa, wife to late Zimbabwe music legend Zexie Manatsa has died.
She was aged 68.
In a despairing message he posted on his Twitter handle Tuesday, her musician son Tendai Manatsa, said he was having a hard time trying to deal with the bereavement.
“My mother passed away this morning. We just lost my father 8 months ago. I am not ready for this. Zvakadhakwa izvi
“Rest in peace momz. Love you so much,” Tendai posted on Twitter Tuesday.
Details around her death were not yet clear.
Her husband succumbed to cancer aged 78 January this year.
The now late couple, as she would recall during a media interview 30 years on, had a famous wedding that was attended by nearly 50 000 people at Rufaro Stadium 29 August 1978.
Her death this 30 August almost coincided with her wedding anniversary.
The grand event, she said, angered then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe/Rhodesia Abel Muzorewa who was forced to cancel his campaign rally he had planned for the same day after crowds instead chose to watch the Manatsa couple exchange nuptials.
The now late Stella Manatsa, in her past interviews with the media, also spoke glowingly about how she left relatives charmed with her wedding spectacle after they had initially disapproved of her marriage to a musician.
“Again, to my pleasure, it silenced critics such as relatives and friends who had made fun out of me for marrying a musician- a person whom society regarded as a tramp.
“Many were shocked how the wedding was well organised, attended and couldn’t believe that a musician could do such a thing. This is the day that also helped to change perceptions about musicians,” she had been quoted saying.
