Mashudu Mambo
AS the proverb says, love conquers all, the love story of Zifiso Masiye (58) and Sithenjisiwe Siwela (56) is an indication that no obstacle is great when two people love each other.
The couple has been married for 33 years and they are blessed with three children. Masiye said he met his wife at varsity while he was playing tennis.
“We met in our first year at university in 1988, while l was playing tennis and she approached the tennis court wearing a green dress and her big beautiful eyes made me fall for her. At that instant, I dropped the racket and asked my friend if he had seen her, l told him that she was going to be my wife. I pursued her from that day,” he said giggling.
Masiye stated that he tried for some months to convince his wife but she always rejected his advances.
“I tried my luck and she was rejecting my advances. One day, while we were walking around the school campus l confronted her and told her that the reason why she was rejecting my proposal was because she did not want to accept that she loved me, she shrugged. l picked her up and kissed her and she kissed me back. l ran off to my friend’s room and told him the great news and from that day we started dating,” he said.
Masiye indicated they faced several obstacles when they were trying to get married.
“It has been a long road, we were inseparable and as a result, my wife got pregnant when we were in our first year. The news of the pregnancy came as a shock to our parents and there was a huge fight between our families. We decided to organise our wedding, l borrowed some money and got two rings, she booked a magistrate and we had our wedding with about seven guests. However, we officially got married in 1991,” he said.
He highlighted that the strength of their marriage has been their ability to fight the different obstacles that they had when they got married.
“The strength of our relationship has been our love and faith in God. This has made us face all the different challenges that life brought to us.
“One of the most important things has been that my wife stood with me when we had nothing and we managed to acquire everything that we have together,” he said.
Masiye highlighted that they always have activities to rekindle their love.
“It is very important for couples to have time to rekindle their love and I learnt this from my neighbour who always had date nights with his wife every Friday.
“As a couple, we took it upon ourselves to have some date nights or a mini-braai for the two of us to rekindle our love and this has strengthened our bond,” he said.
Siwela indicated that her husband’s nature of being persistent and forceful drew them close.
“It took me some time to finally accept my husband’s proposal and this was because l did not trust him and we met on our first days at varsity. He was so forceful and before l even got to know more about him l was already in his arms,” she said.
Siwela indicated that one of the most essential factors in a marriage is loving your partner without requiring them to change.
“Our love has been strengthened by accepting each other as we are without desiring to change the other person. We love and respect each other with our differences, we keep it simple.
“Submission is also a crucial factor in marriage and this is a command that God has given us. Women have to submit to their husbands and husbands have to love their wives,” she said.
She indicated that it is crucial to keep a good circle of friends to ensure that one has a successful marriage.
“The people who you associate with have a great impact on the success of your marriage,” she said.
