A 68 year old South African man has made shocking claims that “Robert Mugabe is my blood.”
Edward Motaung is craving to hock up with his dad and has approached a South African newspaper to help him in his quest. “I need to see my blood father,” Motaung said.
Pictures of him show a striking resemblance.
Motaung says he was 15 when his late mother Tontsho Motaung told him of Mugabe being his biological father.
“I did not go to school because my mother was a part-time domestic worker earning only petty cash,” Motaung said. “I am lost not knowing who I am because my mother did not tell me exactly what happened. She also failed to take me to Zimbabwe to see my father.”
Edward was born in what was called the Orange Free State in 1940.
He was raised in a family of the Batswana tribe but insists he is not of Tswana blood. “I’m Shona,” Mugabe’s tribe.
He lives in the poor Alexandra Township of Johannesburg – a far cry from his “father’s” opulence. Now he fears his poverty is a result of his failure to “reach my own blood, my ancestors”.
Mugabe’s other known son Nhamodzenyika was born in 1963 but died after succumbing to a severe attack of malaria. He was just three years old.
Very little is known about Mugabe’s childhood as he is remembered as being bookish and lonely.
But if Motaung’s claims are to be believed, Mugabe must have been 16 when he sired Motaung.
Mugabe attended St Francis Xavier College in Kutama in his youth, and would have finished Standard Six aged about 13-15 years.
It has long been rumoured that Mugabe has a daughter born out of wedlock with a Bulawayo woman.
A UK Sunday newspaper once tracked the woman to Vancouver, Canada, but had difficulties proving it was Mugabe’s daughter.
Motaung’s story sounds implausible. It probably is, but his looks make him a prime candidate to be cast as Robert Mugabe in a future Hollywood blockbuster — for they sure do lookalike!
Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba was not forthcoming when contacted for comment.