Tafadzwa Hove’s story is an extraordinary tale of fate and family reunion in the most unexpected of places – prison. Hove, who was sentenced to 369 years in prison for multiple robbery and rape charges, had his sentence reduced to 50 years and is now set to be released in 2055.
During his incarceration at Khami Maximum Prison in Bulawayo, Hove had an emotional reunion with his father, Biggy Dube, a pastor, whom he hadn’t seen in 27 years since he was five years old.
The reunion happened through a relative who recognized both of them while they were in prison. Despite the tragic circumstances, Hove found solace and purpose during his sentence. After contemplating suicide due to his long sentence, he was counseled and decided to learn to play the guitar. This skill gave him hope and a way to envision a future after prison.
Hove formed a band named the Midlands Boys, focusing on music as a potential livelihood after his release. His life story, filled with twists and hardships, culminated in this unexpected and emotional reunion with his father, who he believed was dead. This reunion became a significant and emotional episode in Hove’s journey of redemption and self-discovery.
Tafadzwa Hove and his father, Biggy Dube, have developed a complex and emotional relationship following their unexpected reunion in prison. Hove, who was initially devastated by the lengthy prison sentence, found solace in meeting his father, whom he believed had died. Despite the pain of their past, including Hove’s struggles with poverty and incomplete education, and Dube’s emotional turmoil from the reunion, their relationship has improved over time.
Dube, who is serving an 18-year sentence for rape, expressed regret over not being able to support his son and the subsequent path Hove took into crime. Their separation was due to Dube’s earlier polygamous marriage and the subsequent difficulties faced by Hove and his mother. Dube’s current imprisonment and his past actions have led him to reflect deeply on the impact of his absence on his son’s life.
Dube, who is set to be released in July 2029, has found the reunion bittersweet, as it reminded him of his failures as a father. He has become more involved with his son and has also been visited by his first wife, who maintains a relationship with Hove. Both Dube and Hove now use their experience to caution others against a life of crime and emphasize the negative impacts of polygamy and gender-based violence.
Dube’s large family includes 13 children from five marriages, with some children holding significant professional roles. He has spoken out against gender-based violence and encouraged societal change to prevent such issues.
Hove was arrested together with his brother Shepherd Hove who is 11 years older than him. The two brothers from Zvishavane were notorious for rape and armed robbery in Mberengwa. In 2018, the brothers used violence against one of their victims and threatened her with a machete, axe and a knife and stole her property worth $284 before raping her. The siblings also robbed three other shops at Svita Business Centre in Mberengwa and stole goods worth about $2,000.
They also broke into a room where there were two females at Maphisa Store in Mberengwa then assaulted the two women with booted feet and forced them to cover their faces, before ordering them to undress. One of the complainants pleaded with them not to sexually abuse her, claiming she was suffering from cervical cancer. They went on to rape the other woman, before robbing the shop of property worth $886.
In another incident, the Hove brothers broke into another shop in Mberengwa and the shop keeper, Lazarus Gumbo, was woken by their noise. They were armed with an axe, a machete and a knife. Gumbo was slapped on his cheek by one of the criminals and they stole property worth RTGS $419. At Mahlamvana, in Mberengwa as well, the notorious ordered another shop keeper Jeep Maphosa, to surrender all his money and he surrendered RTGS$80.
Tafadzwa Hove’s father, Pastor Biggie Dube, a man of the cloth at the Church of Christ, was sentenced to 31 years in prison for raping some of his female congregants in Bikita. In 2018 he was arrested for raping his 12-year-old step daughter. The man of God grabbed headlines when he stunned the court by alleging that his manhood was too big to penetrate the minor.
Biggie Dube left the court in stitches when he pleaded with a female magistrate Dambudzo Malunga to come and look at his manhood. He insisted that the abnormal size of his ‘anaconda’ was key evidence that could exonerate him from the rape charges. Unimpressed, madam magistrate Malunga refused the invite to inspect the ‘anaconda’ and remanded him in custody for continuation of trial.
Pastor Dube, as he was popularly known, was also reported to have taken advantage of unsuspecting female congregants who had approached his office in need of assistance. In an interview with B-Metro, he barred all.
“When I was ordained to be a pastor under Church of Christ, I was already a married man, but the major challenge that I discovered about myself was that I was not satisfied with the woman that I had married.
So, this forced me to have a multitude of girlfriends in and outside church.
“In church, I took advantage of those ladies who would come to me for counselling and most of these ladies were vulnerable as they were having problems with their marriages. I remember that within a short space of six months I had managed to bed almost half of the female population that was in my church,” he said.
Dube said things later went out of control when one of the ladies that he was dating in Bikita discovered that she was pregnant. The lady told the pastor about the pregnancy, but in response, the man of the cloth denied responsibility and this did not go down well with the lady.
“From the relationships that I had with the female congregants from my church, I made it a point that I slept with almost all of them and from that habit, I impregnated one of the ladies, who later let the cat out of the sack. The lady, out of stress, shared her issue with other female congregants and by so doing she alerted other ladies, who I was also dating that I had a number of girlfriends within the same church,” he said.
The man of the cloth said from these confessions, two female congregants later sat down and hatched a plan to press charges of rape as a way of fixing him as he had wasted their time. The issue was reported to the police and he was arrested.
“When I was picked up by the police, my superiors at church were notified about the issue and during that time a lot of women were forthcoming to report that I had raped them. I realised then that my future was doomed.
“A docket was prepared and at first it had five counts of rape from two women and from the investigations by the police, they decided to remain with one woman, who was alleging that I had sexually assaulted her twice,” he said.
Dube was found guilty of having raped one of the congregants, who had approached him in serious need of counselling as she was having problems with her husband. The magistrate was convinced by the prosecutor that although Dube and the woman were having an affair, Dube had at one time raped her, resulting in her falling pregnant.
“I told the magistrate that the woman in question was actually my girlfriend for more than two years and we had been sleeping together since then.
The magistrate said she had nothing against their relationship, but on the day in question the complainant never consented to sleeping with him.
“When I heard that statement coming from the magistrate that is when I realised that I was in serious trouble and from the trial it was agreed that I should be imprisoned for 31 years as I was very dangerous to be in the streets,” he said.
“When I got to prison, I discovered that my health was deteriorating very fast so I was urged to go for an HIV test and it was discovered that I was actually positive.
A lot of inmates by then were actually afraid of getting tested, so this forced me to come up with a concept called Khami Opportunistic Infections Organisation (KOICO)
“This group was created to try and educate other inmates to go for testing so that they could start their medication on time to avoid unnecessary loss of life,” he said.
Dube said from his stay in prison, he had discovered that crime does not pay, instead he lost people who were instrumental in his life as they could not stand the fact that he had turned into a rapist.
“21 years in prison my brother is not a joke and on this long journey I can tell you that I never gained anything except being abandoned by people who once loved me. With that in mind my brother I would like to tell my other friends out there to stay away from crime.
