Sue Nyathi’s The Polygamist is a complex, multi-perspective narrative that deconstructs the life and eventual death of Jonasi Gomora, a wealthy Zimbabwean businessman whose appetite for power and women leads to a tangled web of four wives and multiple mistresses. The novel is structured through the alternating voices of the women who shared his life Joyce, Matipa, Essie, and Lindani culminating in an epilogue voiced by the deceased Jonasi himself.
The Prologue: The End of an Era
The story begins at the end, at the funeral of Jonasi Gomora. His body lies contorted and ravaged by illness, his once-dark chocolate complexion turned a dull, ashy shade. The hundreds of mourners gathered at the Catholic church see only a fraction of the man he once was; to some, he was a pillar of the community, while to others, he was a “greedy one with an insatiable appetite for sex”. As his wives stand by the casket, their internal monologues reveal a mixture of relief, hatred, and lingering attachment. One wife reflects that she had lost the man she loved a long time ago, and she is glad he is dead so he can no longer cause her pain. Another looks at him with disdain, noting that all his “charm and charisma” had disappeared when he began to “deteriorate towards the end”.
Joyce: The First Wife and the Architect of a Dynasty
Joyce Gomora is the “Number One” wife, married to Jonasi for thirty years. She comes from a politically connected family; her father was a high-ranking official in the ZANU PF cabinet, allowing her to grow up in the lap of luxury in Rhodesia and abroad. She met Jonasi while he was a first-year university student, and despite her mother’s disapproval her mother once beat her for wanting to marry a man with “N.O.T.H.I.N.G.” Joyce was captivated by his good looks and potential.
Their early years were marked by a rise from a one-roomed cottage in Queensdale to the heights of Zimbabwean society. Joyce was Jonasi’s biggest supporter, rallying behind him as he built J&J Holdings. She recalls their happiest days being the early ones, before the wealth arrived and before the infidelities began. The turning point in their marriage occurred on the first birthday of their daughter, Shumi. Jonasi was absent for the celebration, and when he finally returned, he smelled of another woman’s scent. This was the first of many betrayals that Joyce chose to ignore for the sake of appearances and her children: Rudo, Tino, Gari, and Shumi.
As the years progressed, Joyce became an expert at “faking the funk,” maintaining a facade of a happy marriage while Jonasi accumulated “investments” in the form of other wives and mistresses. She reflects that to Jonasi, wives were like assets to be collected. Her internal conflict reaches a peak when her daughter, Rudo, announces she wants to get married. Joyce is skeptical of the institution, asking her daughter, “Why in hell do you want to get married? Are you in competition with your father?”.
Matipa: The Ambitious Professional and the “Legal Eagle”
Matipa Chando enters the narrative as a sharp, ambitious young lawyer who joins J&J Holdings as the Assistant Director of Legal Compliance and Corporate Affairs. Matipa is fully aware of her power; she believes that “power, money and sex are the biggest aphrodisiacs in life” and that Jonasi Gomora was the ultimate prize. She seduces Jonasi in his office, leading to a passionate affair that Matipa believes is the start of her own “fairy-tale” life.
Matipa is not content with being a mistress. She wants the status that comes with the Gomora name. She eventually becomes Jonasi’s “third” wife (though she initially believes she is only the second), moving into a luxurious penthouse in Northfields and later a mansion in Ballantyne Park. She gives birth to twin daughters, Ashley and Hayley (also known as Panashe and Munashe), and insists that Jonasi set up offshore trust funds for them to ensure they are never “sidelined” by Joyce’s children.
Matipa’s relationship with Jonasi is defined by a power struggle with Joyce. She mocks Joyce behind her back, calling her a “repulsive Rapunzel” and suggesting she should be “swimming in Kariba with all the other hippos”. However, her confidence is shattered when Joyce corners her in a changing room at Sam Levy’s Village and physically assaults her. Despite the violence and the public humiliation, Matipa remains determined to “get even” and secure her place in Jonasi’s harem.
Essie: The Hidden Truth and the Childhood Sweetheart
The narrative introduces a third, hidden wife: Essie. Unlike Joyce and Matipa, Essie lives in “obscurity” in the township of Warren Park D. She and Jonasi grew up together in the dust of Highfields; they were childhood sweethearts, and Essie essentially raised the young, neglected Jonasi after his mother died when he was only three.
Essie’s life is one of trauma and survival. She was raped by Jonasi repeatedly after she had a child by another man. Despite this, Jonasi eventually took her as his second wife in 1991, paying lobola to her parents. They have three children together: Freedom, Blessing, and Sarah. Essie is the “fatest” of the wives, a woman who finds her value in cooking Jonasi’s favorite traditional meals, like tripe-and-onion stew, which Joyce refuses to make.
Essie is the wife who knows Jonasi’s origins and his “selfish bastard” nature better than anyone. She observes his cycle of discarding women once they lose their “beauty and splendour” to illness or age. Essie herself eventually falls ill with what is described as “TB,” though the subtext suggests a more systemic illness related to Jonasi’s philandering. She seeks help from a faith healer, MaiTino, but her condition continues to deteriorate.
Lindani: The “It Girl” and the Final Acquisition
The fourth woman to enter Jonasi’s life is Lindani, a young, beautiful, and calculating “It Girl” who meets Jonasi in a nightclub. Lindani is a “gold digger” by her own admission, believing that “there will be no romance without finance”. She views Jonasi whom she calls a “fossil” as a meal ticket, a man who can provide her with the luxury she craves, including a Mercedes and a home in the wealthy suburbs.
Lindani is aware that she is one of many, but she doesn’t care as long as the money keeps flowing. She dates other men, like the possessive “Tito” and “Rhino,” while maintaining her position as Jonasi’s favorite “concubine”. She eventually falls pregnant and uses the “abortion money” Jonasi gives her to instead secure a deposit on a flat and a driver’s license, maneuvering herself into a position of relative security. Lindani represents the final stage of Jonasi’s predatory behavior a man who buys youth to validate his own fading power.
The Collision: The Anniversary Party and the STI
The various threads of Jonasi’s life collide during Joyce’s seventeenth-anniversary party. Despite being separated from Jonasi, Joyce decides to throw a lavish celebration to remind the world and Jonasi’s mistresses that there is only one “Mrs. Jonasi Gomora”. She invites Matipa to the event as a calculated insult. At the party, Matipa is forced to watch as Jonasi plays the role of the perfect husband for his father-in-law, even as he whispers to Matipa that she is the one he truly loves.
The turning point for the “Matipa debacle” occurs when she discovers she has contracted a sexually transmitted infection (gonorrhea). When she confronts Jonasi and asks him to use a condom, he reacts with “unadulterated hatred” and “malice”. He beats Matipa brutally with a leather belt and rapes her, asserting his “ownership” over her and refusing to acknowledge the danger he has put her in. This assault finally breaks Matipa’s resolve; she realizes that Jonasi is a “greedy, selfish prick” and eventually flees to the UK, leaving her daughters in Joyce’s care.
The Descent: Illness and the Shattering of Illusions
As the novel moves toward its conclusion, the “big picture” of Jonasi’s lifestyle becomes clear. Joyce discovers the full extent of Jonasi’s double life: he has not one, but eight children across three different households. She realizes that she is not the only “mother of Jonasi’s children” and that her status was an illusion.
The reality of Jonasi’s health begins to surface. He is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, though he initially refuses to take his ARV treatment, claiming he is “not sick” and that “only fools get HIV”. His refusal to seek proper medical care leads to a rapid decline. He becomes emaciated, his skin peeling and his eyes burning “like burning coal”.
During this period, an unlikely “alliance” forms between the wives. Joyce and Matipa, once bitter enemies, find themselves on the “same side of the bed” against the new threat, Lindani. Joyce eventually takes in Matipa’s twins, caring for them as her own while Matipa is away. She also visits the dying Essie in the hospital, noting that the woman who was once “pretty” had been “baked in an oven” by her illness.
The Final Days and the Epilogue
In his final months, Jonasi returns to Joyce’s home, “wearing death like a second skin”. Joyce, despite her bitterness, becomes his primary caregiver, bathing him and cleaning up after him as he “deteriorates toward the end”. Jonasi eventually dies in Joyce’s arms, terrified and skeletal.
The funeral is a scene of high drama, as the “polygamist’s circus” comes to an end. Essie has already died, and Matipa returns from the UK with her new husband, Mark, only to find that her daughters no longer recognize her and view Joyce as their mother. Lindani and Essie’s daughter, Sarah, clash publicly at the church, with Essie’s family demanding to be recognized as legitimate.
In the epilogue, the spirit of Jonasi Gomora reflects on his life. He admits that of all his wives, Joyce was the only one who sincerely loved him. He reflects on the different roles each woman played: Essie was his first love who gave him “class”; Matipa “stimulated” him with her “brain power”; and Lindani was merely a “young pretty thing” he used to “hoist his ego”.
Jonasi reveals a final secret: realizing the destruction he had caused, he had entrusted offshore funds to Joyce before he died. He concludes that while he had “it good, better than most men could ever have it,” he caused immense pain and destruction. His final thought is a cynical acceptance of his fate: “In life you make your bed and you must lie in it; in my case, I’ll toss in it!”.