Tragedy shaped Maneta into the woman she is today

Maneta

Maneta Mazanhi, the last born in a family of six, lost her father in 1994 when she was only two years and in 2001 her mother passed on when she was doing Grade Six. But being born with less didn’t put a strain on her and instead she matured at an early age something which made her a hardworking and enterprising woman that she is.

“She grew up at a family home in Queenspark West and attended Newmanford Primary School before going to Montrose Girls’ High School for her secondary education.She did her A-Levels at Foundation College. I see her as a hardworking person like all the Mazanhis. Pikirai, who she comes after, is a doctor in Masvingo, Teclar comes after me and I am the eldest,” Tendai Mazanhi-Moyo said.

Following the death of her parents, the sprawling suburb of Queenspark West was not ideal for the impressionable Maneta hence Tendai and her husband Njabulo Moyo virtually adopted her paying her school fees and other necessities.

“She wasn’t dull at all. She was a ‘go-getter’ and nothing could stop her from getting what she wanted whether good or bad,” Tendai said. She said her husband treated Maneta like his own including Pikirai who was at the time studying medicine at the University of Zimbabwe.

“He never grumbled and he would make sure that they had a decent education. Of course, here and there our church pastor Clide Bismark of the Abundant Life Christian Centre would also help since they were now orphaned. “As she grew up she knew what she wanted even though without a father figure we lived with her and gave her rules to follow like our own children,” Tendai said.

Tendai is a supervisor at a Bulawayo pharmacy and her husband has business interests in mining and they have two children — Cloey (13) and Jayden (3). The Mazanhi siblings have different mothers.

Before going into Big Brother StarGame, Maneta worked for the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority as a cashier at a tollgate along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway. As beautiful as she, Maneta had high hopes of making it big in life and that her participation in Africa’s widely watched reality series would open more opportunities for her.

And when the opportunity to represent Zimbabwe arose she quickly asked Teclar who by then was in South Africa to partner her since this year’s edition, although there will be one winner, housemates compete as pairs.

Of the two, Tendai described Maneta as “the solid one” while Teclar is the “drama queen”. Maneta is very assertive and Teclar jokes and laughs about anything, she is a humourous person,” she explained.

She admitted that she wasn’t a big fan of Big Brother but because she had two of her sisters in the house naturally she followed the show 24/7. “For starters I am a Christian and this is why for the greater part of today my phone was not available because I am active in the praise and worship team.

“Secondly, it is not a programme I enjoy watching because I don’t see anything interesting about people going about their daily lives,” she said. Asked if Maneta wins the prize money of US$300 000, Tendai said they hoped the best for her. “The whole family is behind her and we are hoping that she wins the money. I wouldn’t be surprised if she decides to share part of it with Teclar who was evicted in order for her to stay in the game. Besides Maneta is eye-candy, she is a beauty with brains,” she said.

Since the start of the show, Tendai has been busy voting for Maneta using social forums likes Facebook, email and whatsApp to drum up support for her sister.  Born on June 22, 1990 Maneta is likely to celebrate her birthday in the house that is if she survives this Sunday’s eviction show after she was put up for eviction together with Zambian drama queen Mampi and raunchy Kenyan singer Lady May. Herald