Celebrity gay polygamist Enoch Kolobe has lost one of his three gay partners that he refers to as "wives".

The controversial pastor of Zion Apostolic Church Brother Mission who is also a sangoma, shot to fame when he officiated an interracial gay marriage on wildly popular reality show Our Perfect Wedding, lost the first of his three gay partners, Sifiso Zwane, after he walked out on their union.

The sad tale will be revealed in the upcoming episodes of Kolobe's reality TV show Umdeni on DStv's dedicated love channel Moja Love.

Kolobe was not available to speak to Sunday World but his son Bongani confirmed that Zwane went back to his home for unknown reasons.

Bongani said viewers would be taken into his father's confidence about Zwane's departure from their Dennilton, Limpopo household in the next few weeks as the show progresses.

Kolobe initially had two wives with whom he had 20 children. Five of his children are gay and five are lesbian.

After the death of the first wife and the separation from the second wife, the pastor then decided to wed three gay men who he considers to be his helpers. Each one of them has special duties in the family.

One of them, Alfred Mahlangabeza, said he was good with initiating the upcoming sangomas while the others deal with beadwork and house chores.

The first episode centred around the Kolobe household and showed in detail how the partners performed their duties.

Viewers also saw how Zwane refused to attend a family meeting where the children and other partners of the sangoma were present.

Although he explained to the other partners that he didn't attend the meeting because he was tired, they did not buy it and stuck to the claim that he was hiding something from the family.

Kolobe said in the episode that his grandfather was a polygamist who had seven wives and that his own father also took more than one wife.

The show's executive producer Mpho Lengane said: "Our core pillar as a channel is to show all facets that have to do with love, be it tragic or beautiful.

"It is through celebrating their unique and conventional family that we as a channel celebrate another face of love."

* Umdeni premiered on channel DStv 157 last night