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Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Reporter

JAILED Independent End Time Message leader Robert Martin Gumbura’s wife have vowed to remain loyal to their husband and united despite negative coverage by some sections of the media.

Even from prison, Gumbura still ensures all his wives are catered for and will do little things to ensure they are happy.

When they visited him on Thursday during the Prison and Correctional Services Family Week, his wives and children wore similar red and white hats bought by the incarcerated clergyman.

They said Gumbura parted with 3kg of sugar as payment for the hats sewn by a fellow inmate.

In an interview with The Herald, Gumbura denied reports that he had allowed his wives to look for love elsewhere since he would be in jail for a long time.

“Look at all my wives as they sit there, which one do you think I will divorce, which one?” he said as the wives burst into laughter.

“You can ask them, they are all here, all the mothers are here,” he added.

As part of the Prison and Correctional Services Family Week facility, the wives and children had visited Gumbura at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.

Gumbura is serving a 40-year jail term and has been behind bars for the past five years.

Sitting around their husband, all the wives nodded in agreement that in the five years Gumbura has been away, they have been and will remain faithful to him.

They said previous reports in some sections of the media that they had deserted him were false.

“It was a lie. We know that media will be looking at selling their newspapers, so we just ignore it. We will remain loyal to our husband,” said spokesperson Queen Bunga, who is Gumbura’s second wife.

Asked how many of his wives had visited him, Gumbura insisted that all the mothers of his children had come. He added that his children would visit later that day and start feasting as a family.

Gumbura applauded the Prison and Correctional Services department for providing such an opportunity for those incarcerated to meet their families.

He said without such a provision, it would mean for people like him serving sentences of up to 40 years would never recognise their children when they were eventually released.

“With this current arrangement, you can relate with developments happening back home. You can trace the growth of your children. Very soon, my children will be coming here, you will see them.

“They are not very difficult to spot. You will see them in their numbers with their hats similar to those of their mothers,” said Gumbura.

Previously, other media houses reported that his wives had stopped visiting him in prison while others reported that he had given them his blessings to look for love   elsewhere.

The Gumbura family remains a centre of attraction at all Family Weeks. During each visit, a huge crowd comprising his wives, children and a few parishioners visit him.

Gumbura was convicted in 2014 on four counts of rape.

He has 21 wives, nine of whom do not have children with him.