VICE-President Constantino Chiwenga is on the
brink of divorcing his wife, ex model Marry Chiwenga, after the pair had a
nasty fallout when he was seriously ill and hospitalised in South Africa.
Family members and government officials say the fallout
revolved around personal matters related to Marry’s behaviour and her attempt
to have Chiwenga write a will, in which she would have been the largest beneficiary
of the couple’s vast estate in the event that he dies.
At the time, most members of Chiwenga’s family, as well as
government officials, had ruled out the general’s hopes of recovery. Senior
Zanu PF officials had also begun jostling for his post, while others pushed for
him to be dropped from government on the grounds that he was incapacitated.
Chiwenga and Marry have been living separately after the
Vice-President moved into another house on arrival from China, where he was
hospitalised for four months, before staging a remarkable recovery.
Chiwenga has instructed his lawyer Wilson Manase to handle
divorce proceedings and the Zimbabwe Independent understands the matter will be
heard soon, possibly by Judge President George Chiweshe who has since received
the papers.
Chiweshe is a former Judge Advocate-General in the Zimbabwe
National Army. Sources told the Independent he received the divorce papers
directly instead of through the Registrar of the High Court to ensure they do
not leak.
“The general was livid when the proposal (to write a will)
was made. He was weak and emancipated, but summoned all the energy he had to
let Marry know his feelings. He accused her of wanting him dead and even
suggested that she could be working with his political rivals to poison or bewitch
him,” a government official said.
“He then barred her from seeing him. When arrangements were
made for the VP to be flown to China, she was kept in the dark. The general
also made it clear that he did not want to see her while in China and that is
the reason why she never visited him in Beijing when he was hospitalised there
for four months.”
Officials said Chiwenga has not tried to hide his disdain
for his wife even in public.“That is the reason why Marry was not part of the
welcoming party at the Robert Mugabe International Airport when the general
returned. It was not a coincidence. It was by design,” the official said.
“Marry was also not at the Chiwenga homestead last weekend
when the general held a welcome home party. He did not mention her when he was
mentioning people who stood by him when he was ill.”
In his remarks at the party, Chiwenga paid glowing
gratitude to Health and Child Care deputy minister John Mangwiro who
accompanied him to South Africa, India and China as he sought treatment for an
ailment his loyalists link to poisoning.
He also mentioned the aides who stuck by his side during
his four-month stay in Beijing as he convalesced.Chiwenga jetted into the
country on November 23 and was received at the airport by Chinese embassy officials,
his son Richard and other relatives.
Officials revealed Chiwenga did not return to his
Borrowdale Brooke home, but chose to stay at one of his nearby properties,
which was furnished a few weeks before his arrival.
With the matter set to spill into the courts, sources said,
lawyers representing Chiwenga have been instructed to push for a court order
barring the media from reporting on the divorce proceedings.
In 2012, Chiwenga, then Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander,
also sought and was granted a court order to gag the media when he was in the
process of divorcing Jocelyn, before he married Marry.
A weak and emancipated Chiwenga was airlifted to China in
July after President Emmerson Mnangagwa engaged Chinese leader Xi Xinping on
his behalf.
He underwent two operations to clear his oesophagus which
was blocked resulting in him failing to eat food.
Marry confirmed that she indeed never visited him in China
during the time the vice-president was hospitalised, but referred questions to
Chiwenga, whom she said was the best person to confirm whether the couple was
still staying together.
“You have his number. The VP’s number. If you find it you
can ask him those questions. He is the best person who can answer that
question. Inini handina chekupindura (I have nothing to say). Remember, it is
the vice-president who came back. So it is him whom you must ask. “I was here,
it was him who was not around. I am sure he will tell you. You know I cannot
speak on his behalf. I was not in China, I was here. That is why I said the
best person to ask is him. I have nothing to say.”
Marry said on the vice-president’s recovery “journey”, a
“lot of things” happened and suggested that she had done her part to assist.“A
lot of things happened while he was in China, but our journey did not start in
China. China was only the last part of the journey. You have to ask him how he
got to India, you must ask him. There is someone who initiated all this.
“This also applies to you. If you fall sick who is going to
initiate that you are taken to the hospital? Isn’t it the person that you stay
with? So that is why I am saying it is only fair that you get to speak to him.
As I said, I am not the one who was in China. It is the VP who was in China.
You should say to him zvanzi nambuya venyu imi ndimi manga muri kuChina
vanokupindurayi. (Say to him Marry says you were in China, he should be able to
answer you.”
Efforts to get a comment from Chiwenga’s lawyer, Manase
were futile as our calls went unanswered. Sources said Marry tried to mend the
relationship several times while Chiwenga was in China, but to no avail. She
also tried to visit, but was denied a visa.
Officials say she also tried to mend bridges through
emissaries, but her efforts failed.Marry was not at Chiwenga’s home when
Mnangagwa visited his deputy after his arrival from China.
But, sources said, Marry, together with her four children
with the general, was later invited to visit the vice-president.“Even though
she was not invited when Mnangagwa met with the general, Marry was later
summoned to bring the kids to the house so that they could see their father.
“During their visit, which was not characterised by any air
of animosity, the couple agreed that they would proceed with their divorce
plans. The children were very excited to see their father for the first time in
four months,” a government official told this newspaper this week.
The Independent understands Chiwenga wants to keep the
couple’s matrimonial home, which he said was of “sentimental value to him” when
he was divorcing Jocylene.
In the face of the looming divorce, sources said Marry has
maintained her innocence, distancing herself from allegations that she could
have given a hand around reports that the former general was poisoned.
In the aftermath of the November 2017 millitary coup, Marry
and Chiwenga developed a rare skin ailment which affected their hands and skin
complexion.
Chiwenga’s close associates believe he was poisoned by
political rivals. The vice-president led the coup, which toppled former
president Robert Mugabe and catapulted Mnangagwa to power.
The two’s relationship was, however, strained soon after
the coup over transitional arrangements, government appointments as well as
Chiwenga’s presidential ambitions.
When Chiwenga was in the process of divorcing Jocelyn, the
veil was lifted on his vast wealth empire consisting of prime land, several
residential and industrial stands, expensive jewellery, homes and vehicles
among other material possessions.
Before marrying the former general in 2012, Marry was wife
to former football star Shingayi Kawondera.In July, Kawondera sued Marry for
US$700 000, claiming that she fraudulently obtained a divorce order against him
to facilitate her marriage to the then army commander. Zimbabwe Independent
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