Harare — Tongai "Dhewa" Moyo's late wife Barbara died a "tormented soul", her relatives have said.

Twenty-nine-year-old Barbara (nee Muchengeti), who was married to Tongai Moyo for 10 years, committed suicide a fortnight ago and was buried in Msasa Park Cemetery, Kwekwe, on Saturday.

Barbara was Tongai's second wife and it is believed she killed herself when "Dhewa" insisted on taking a third.

Despite concerted efforts by Tongai's family to conceal information regarding the events that led to Barbara's suicide, her grandfather told mourners at AFM Church in Newtown that she suffered "relentless abuse".

"Hukama haugezwe nesipo. Hongu . . . mwana akashungurudzwa zvikuru saka ipapo ndoda kuti kumhuri yekwaMoyo neyekwaMuchengeti kana paiita dambudziko dzoranai muve mugwara rimwe (A relationship cannot be wished away. Yes . . . this child was tormented and as such I want to urge the Moyo and Muchengeti families to live in harmony)," he said.

He urged the two families to take care of the two children that Barbara left behind.

A letter from Barbara's United Kingdom-based brother, Ronnie Muchengeti, singled out alleged continuous abuse as the cause of Barbara's suicide.

In the letter, read by Tongai's sister Esinath Chakamba (nee Moyo), Ronnie said Barbara did everything for her husband without being appreciated.

"To you Tongai, I feel shame now that you don't have anyone to rescue you.

"When you were sick you turned to Barbara but surprisingly you never appreciated her. Welcome to the real world without a saviour!" part of the letter read.

Barbara's mother, who is also based in the UK, described

her daughter as a reliable person.

"I thank God for my daughter. She was a level-headed woman who taught me to forgive.

"She would say that prayer starts with forgiveness."

The grieving mother said her daughter always prayed for her "children and sick husband".

However, Tongai used the occasion to refute earlier reports on the circumstances surrounding his wife's death and said Barbara had allowed him to take a second wife.

"I am at a loss for words because the media through other Tongai Moyos said a lot of things on my behalf which, in fact, I did not say.

"I don't know where to start save to say there have been a lot of distortions regarding my wife's death.

"What I know is that she did not wash the dirty linen in public," he claimed before he threw a salvo at The Herald, which first broke the story.

"I was deeply pained by Mai Tanaka's death asi nokuda kwekuti ndakaitira mari yangu paruzhinji, I would have mourned my wife in peace without all these distortions.

"To say the least, I don't think there is anywhere in the Constitution of Zimbabwe where it says I must reveal my domestic matters to The Herald," he said.

Quoting from Zexie Manatsa's golden oldie, Munhu Akanaka, Tongai described his late wife as a loving and caring woman.

"Munhu akanaka haararame asi avo vakaipa vanorama kwenguva kuti varambe vachishungurudza (The good die young but the bad live long so that they keep on troubling the world)," he said.

A breaking down, Tongai -- who was donning a black jacket and a matching pair of designer trousers -- said he met Barbara through his late wife's mother, who was a cross-border trader.

At the time, "Dhewa" was a clerk at Kwekwe General Hospital and he together with his friends would buy clothes and other wares on credit from the woman who would become his mother-in-law.

"Come every month-end, we would pay in instalments and if my mother-in-law was unable to collect the balance she would send Barbara. That is how I met her.

"We got married and we worked well together. She was very understanding such that she even allowed me to marry my second wife.

"So as we continued with our lives she had become a pillar and my father, and I were literally living off her.

"For the last four years she was my doctor, sister, mother and everything," Tongai sobbed.

Tongai said Barbara regarded the third woman, Miniehle Mukweli, as her own sister.

Tongai divorced his first wife before marrying Barbara and they have two children together.

"Her (Barbara) friends, were against the idea that we stayed together with Miniehle but that did not bother her at all.

"All the time she would tell them that she wanted to make me happy," he said.

Miniehle was conspicuously absent at the burial although there were reports that she attended the funeral wake.

Efforts by The Herald to speak to Miniehle were in vain after a certain Simango, who hired hooligans, manhandled The Herald news crew.

Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu -- who is the patron of the Zimbabwe Union of Musicians -- urged the media to report accurately on celebrities and their spouses.

In a light-hearted speech during the church service, Minister Shamu, said: "We thank the media for breaking the news about the death but some of the reports were falsehoods.

"We encourage you to continue covering our musicians including their spouses.

"There were lots of reports about Michael Jackson's death including news about his grandmother and great-grandmothers so you should do the same here and not just focusing on the artistes but their families."

Mutare businessman Mr Esau Mupfumi urged his friend "Dhewa" to improve his relations with the media and be strong during his time of bereavement.

Musicians who attended the burial included Somandla Ndebele, Lucky Mabande and members of Tongai's backing group, Utakataka Express.

The musician's friends and fans were also in attendance.