Tsvangirai and wife reconcile

HARARE – The turbulent love life of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has at last been blessed with a ray of light.

The Daily News on Sunday was told of the latest development in the MDC leader’s often colourful personal life: that Tsvangirai and his estranged second wife, Elizabeth Macheka, have all but reconciled.

A close family source yesterday said after two months of separation, Tsvangirai and Macheka have healed the rift. The source said during the separation, both went through a healing proccess.

Tsvangirai, 61,  a former Prime Minister, met Elizabeth, 36,  — a divorcée and businesswoman in 2011.
They married in 2012, just three years after the death of his first wife Susan, to whom he had been married for 31 years and with whom he founded the MDC.

Tsvangirai and Macheka’s separation had caused a rift in the MDC.

Reached for comment yesterday on the latest development, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said the two never separated.

“There has never been any problem of that sort. The marriage issue is a matter he is a dealing with in a mature and private manner,” he said.

Tsvangirai’s two-year marriage with Macheka had its fair share of ups and downs before their separation in November, when Macheka decamped to a home in Philadelphia, Borrowdale, which she bought recently.

Her purchase of that property also caused consternation within the Tsvangirai family, with the MDC leader’s family members reportedly infuriating Macheka by suggesting that she was abusing Tsvangirai’s
funds.

“Elizabeth actually makes more money than Tsvangirai, and she bought that house using her own funds,” a source said.

Allegations by close members of the Tsvangirai family that she was a “gold digger”, further strained relations, according to a source.

It piled on an already festering crisis between the two over a “bedroom issue”, prompting her to decamp.
They separated in December due to “fatigue” and “spiritual warfare” after Tsvangirai reportedly sought divine intervention from Nigerian prophet TB Joshua, but reconciled after receiving counselling from a
top economist.

The larger-than-life opposition leader has been criticised for the turmoil in his private life and has tried to deflect attention by dedicating his energies on attacking his Zanu PF opponents’ handling of the economy and outlining his alternative pro-business economic policy aimed at spurring growth and creating jobs.

A source said the couple has urged friends and family to pray for them and their new lease of marriage. The reconciliation has been met with joy by family insiders.

Tsvangirai, whose approval ratings were already the lowest of recent times, appears to have avoided any significant political damage from the scandal.

A snap survey suggests many voters believe Tsvangirai’s love life is his own business and there seems to be sympathy bounce from the electoral defeat and separation, suggesting a slight upturn in support for the beleaguered leader.

But some have  chastised Tsvangirai for his “appalling handling” of the fiasco, including granting a State media interview where he widened the rift with his wife by suggesting she was the source of their problems, with Macheka answering in a damning interview where she made stunning revelations that Tsvangirai had a “medical” condition.

Judging from the string of beautiful women that have been linked with Tsvangirai since ascending to power and his subsequent fall, power has indeed been a major asset for him in the love department.

Over the past few years, Tsvangirai’s love life has become a soap opera and  just like in the films, the ladies who have been linked with the ex-PM so  far all have one thing in common; they are “drop-dead gorgeous”.

After his wife’s death in 2009, Tsvangirai was first linked to a US-based doctor, Arikana Chihombori, with whom he was seen at President Jacob Zuma’s inauguration. Afterwards, news of his relationship with Locardia Karimatsenga surfaced.

Tsvangirai was also linked with a 23-year-old Bulawayo woman who he allegedly impregnated and dumped.

He was then linked to a married woman, Aquilina Pamberi, whose husband said in court papers Tsvangirai was responsible for their break-up.

It was then rumoured that he had a child with Lerato Nyathi.

Then there was South African national Nosipho Regina Shilubane who launched a spirited bid to block Tsvangirai’s marriage to Macheka ostensibly because she was engaged to marry the MDC leader.

Tsvangirai believes she was paid to try and stop the wedding, and sully his image. She now says she is writing a book about her dalliances with Tsvangirai.

The MDC leader finally settled for the imposing Macheka, but there was crisis in paradise, until recently.

Tsvangirai’s  penchant for his rival party Zanu PF’s women has also put him  on the spot with his MDC compatriots who are quietly questioning his taste in women and suggesting that be could the source of his woes.

His problems with Macheka, daughter of Zanu PF Central Committee member and former Chitungwiza mayor, Joseph Macheka has  become the second bond he has formed with a woman linked to Zanu PF after he betrothed Karimatsenga in November 2012. Daily News