State institutions should not be used to resolve personal struggles

By Nicholas Gochai

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) sprung into action, promptly arresting Marry Mubaiwa-Chiwenga, the wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, for a raft of criminal offences.

Mubaiwa-Chiwenga is accused of attempting to murder her husband – retired army general Chiwenga – fraud, money laundering and externalisation of at least US$1 million, among others.

For all we know, the charges against Mubaiwa-Chiwenga dateback from October 2018 to sometime around this year when she was accused of wanting to “to switch the life off the VP” in a South African hospital.

There are also allegations that Mubaiwa-Chiwenga had sought to upgrade her marital status with the former general, bringing it to Chapter 5:11 of the Marriages Act.

Charges against the former model appear irrefutable on paper, and depict Mubaiwa-Chiwenga as not having any escape route.

The matter against Mubaiwa-Chiwenga, however, is still sub-judice and any discussion around it should proceed with some measure of jurisprudence.

But there is something about this matter that stinks to high heaven.

Did Zacc have to wait until accused almost made “an attempt” on her husband’s life in order to “burst” her?

Alternatively, was accused subjected to a pincer maneuver (a multi-faceted stealthy military movement) so that she incriminates herself unawares – with the lure of fraudulently upgrading her marital status with “dying husband”, Chiwenga being the final straw?

The jigsaw puzzle in this matter is hard to break.

There could be something we do not know yet at Zim Morning Post, but it boggles the mind to understand how prominent characters in the Mubaiwa-Chiwenga “forged” Marriages Act-effort were dribbled past by a mere former model, inclusive of even Judge President Justice George Chiweshe and Acting Chief Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi.

This publication acknowledges Zacc’s tremendous effort at arresting Mubaiwa-Chiwenga and expeditiously bring her to court.

But in the same breath, we also ask if there has been no political pressure made to bear on the corruption-bursting entity?

Zacc chairperson Justice Loice Matanda Moyo is the wife of Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo, whose cordial relationship with VP Chiwenga from the days of the 2017 “coup” is a public secret.

We have been here before and instances where State institutions have been abused for personal aggrandisement as happened in the year of coup (with the military then saying “we are only targeting criminals around the President”, a statement which culminated in the ejection of the late former leader, Robert Mugabe from power) are rampant.

And looking at the charges against Mubaiwa-Chiwenga, it would seem like they were meant for another super Marry.

We hope we will be proven wrong! Zim Morning Post