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Harare - Is it OK for the bride's father to wear shorts on her special day?
That's the question that has bugged Zimbabweans for days now after a photo surfaced on social media showing a formal wedding party with everything you'd expect - the full-length white gown and bridal gloves, the bride's mother in a jaunty turquoise hat and the new in-laws similarly formally attired.
Just one thing didn't look quite right: The bride's father, scowling at the camera in an open-necked blue shirt and baggy - very baggy - shorts.
The picture quickly went viral, sparking a #tezvara hashtag and a rash of memes.
Tezvara means father-in-law in Zimbabwe's Shona language.
Like the #MugabeFalls memes that avalanched soon after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe tripped at Harare International Airport in February, some of the #tezvara memes are extremely clever.
One shows the be-shorted father-in-law as part of Zimbabwe's statue of the Unknown Soldier at the national burial ground in Harare.
Another picture shows the rebel dad starting a fashion-trend, with Obama copying his lead in a pair of lurid purple shorts.
One creative photoshopper slips dad into a formal shot on the lawns of State House in Harare.
Another even has the bride's father taking part in Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting of the Last Supper.
In a Zimbabwe troubled by reports of xenophobic violence across the border in South Africa, locals embraced the internet sensation with glee. "This tezvara is the centre of my happiness right now," tweeted user @RTbrkn.
"These tezvara memes are giving me life," said @RangaMberi.
'My daughter approved'
While many Zimbabweans were outraged at the man's lack of fashion sense (or rather wedding fashion sense) a few tried to analyse his facial expression. Blogger trueafricanwoman.net wrote: "You gotta give him props for the serious face though. It’s like he was saying ‘don’t you dare try me, I’m here aren’t I?’"
Zimbabwe's private Newsday paper named the man on Wednesday as Peter Irimayi Mudavanhu, an animal scientist who says he hasn't worn trousers since he graduated from the University of Zimbabwe in 1988.
He told Newsday the wedding took place on April 6 - and admitted his wife wasn't too happy with his choice of attire.
"My daughter approved of my attire, she said she grew up knowing me as a person who loves shorts, but my wife was against that at some point, all in all it went well,” Mudavanhu told the paper.
“I would have been very uncomfortable if I had put on a suit on that wedding day," he was quoted as saying.
Some have even nicknamed Mudavanhu "Tezvara Baggins”.
Whaaat!? #Tezvara was on BBC News? Hahaha ---> pic.twitter.com/IXAtHfabf3
— Tich Ray Chamisa (@TichRay) April 29, 2015#Tezvara the Unknown Soldier at Heroes Acre pic.twitter.com/f8iwmFyvYm
— Lance Guma (@LanceGuma) April 28, 2015Don't judge #Tezvara he was just cmin frm a game pic.twitter.com/k3JeDtL86t
— TV Yangu (@TVYangu) April 24, 2015#Tezvara shorts and shirts @SPMBARA @sirnyasha @tkapini7 pic.twitter.com/2DCpgucNGX
— justice majabvi (@chiefjusticem28) April 28, 2015#tezvara vanetsa ava ???? pic.twitter.com/DldYuf8GDu
— SideNinjaTurtle (@iPreachDawg) April 24, 2015
