By Fanuel Chinowaita
Mutare, 9 July 2025 – A 29-year-old man from Sakubva, Mutare, has gone into hiding after allegedly impregnating a woman from Chipinge and vanishing with her money that was meant for a small business venture.
Pride Tinotenda Bande, who was reportedly employed at the Probation Department, is accused of luring the woman, who had been working as a domestic worker in Mutare into a relationship, only to abandon her once she fell pregnant.
Speaking to The Wasu Post, the woman said she met Bande in December last year while working as a housemaid. “He told me he was not married and said he wanted to settle down. I believed him because he seemed honest,” she said.
She said in January, she expressed interest in starting a second-hand clothing business. “I told him I wanted to start selling clothes, and he said he had a table at Bako Flea Market and could assist me. I gave him the money to buy stock, but later he told me he lost it on the way to the runner,” she said.
Despite the setback, she gave him more money the following month. “He convinced me that we should go to Mozambique ourselves to buy the clothes and said it wasn’t safe to trust runners. I gave him the money again and he said he’d keep it safe on his bank card,” she added.
The woman revealed that she even visited Bande’s family home in Manica Bridge where she was introduced as his partner. “I was welcomed by his relatives. I truly thought this was going to be my home. I was going there regularly, and we were even looking for a place to stay together in Mutare.”
However, things changed when she discovered she was pregnant. “When I told him I was pregnant, that’s when he told me he was already married, but claimed he had problems with his wife. I was heartbroken,” she said.
She said Bande later asked for more money to secure a room in Sakubva where they could stay together. “I gave him the money, and we rented a room in Sakubva. But shortly after that, he disappeared. He left me with no food, no money, and no way to survive.”
“I stopped working in April because of complications with the pregnancy, and since then, he’s been ignoring my calls. Even my relatives tried to reach out to him but he won’t answer,” she said with tears in her eyes.
Investigations by The Wasu Post revealed that Bande was last seen in Chisamba Singles, commonly known as “Japan,” in Sakubva. A close source described him as a serial womaniser. “He’s trouble. He has done this to other women before. I know of at least three women he’s left with children,” the source claimed.
The woman is now appealing to the public for help. “I have no money, no job, and nowhere to go. I am now staying at his home in Manica Bridge, but I can’t live like this forever. I just want help and for him to take responsibility,” she said.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Pride Tinotenda Bande is urged to contact The Wasu Post on +263 772590968 or report to the nearest police station.