Faith Zaba

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe this week expressed grave concern over Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s promiscuity and the increasing number of women he is making pregnant and dumping, saying the premier must sort out his life –– even if it means marrying more than one wife. In separate interviews with the Zimbabwe Independent yesterday, Zanu PF insiders said Mugabe sounded worried at a politburo meeting on Wednesday about Tsvangirai’s marriage saga with Lorcadia Karimatsenga Tembo, a commodities broker, which has become a major political issue.

Tsvangirai seemed to confirm he wanted to marry Lorcadia on Wednesday, after several denials by officials in his office who said he had paid US$10 000 “damages” for impregnating her out of wedlock, although his second statement was later edited to suppress that issue.

Tsvangirai said he had put into motion the process of “formalising” his relationship with Lorcadia by performing traditional and cultural rites on November 18 when he sent a delegation comprising his relatives to the Karimatsenga homestead in Christon Bank near Mazowe. But he then terminated the relationship after 12 days raising questions about whether he wanted to marry her in the first place.

Earlier this year, it was reported Tsvangirai had made a 23-year old Bulawayo woman, Loreta Nyathi, pregnant and now has a son with her. There are also several other women who have been linked to him.

Mugabe said publicly on Wednesday and later at the politburo the media should back off and stop writing about Tsvangirai’s relationships, although he said the premier must get his house in order.

Mugabe pointed out there was no problem in African tradition with a man marrying as many wives as he wishes, although he disagreed with his approach.

“He said he didn’t like the way the prime minister was impregnating women all over and dumping them (kusiya vana musango).
“He said the premier should remember that he is a leader and as a leader people expect him to behave in a certain way and to be responsible,” reported one politburo member.

“The president also said if he wants to marry all these women, he should officialise the relationships like what South African President (Jacob) Zuma has done. There is nothing wrong with that. He said the premier needs to sort himself out and decide what he wants and who he wants.”

Mugabe said this as the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) has reportedly come up with a plan to expose real and imagined sexual escapades of top leaders of the two MDC formations ahead of the next elections as part of a campaign to rescue Mugabe from defeat at the polls.

Intelligence sources said the CIO has hatched a plot to expose and possibly destroy the MDC politicians through sex scandals. The plot, the sources said, would be implemented through the state media, particularly during the election period. The main targets of the witch-hunt are Tsvangirai, MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti and MDC-N boss Professor Welshman Ncube.

The Sunday Mail, a state-controlled weekly, recently splashed on its front page a story on Biti’s alleged affair with a married woman. The same newspaper also carried other reports on alleged Tsvangirai and Ncube sexual exploits.

The newspaper said Biti, also Finance minister, was involved in an affair with Petronella Chishawa which has prompted the woman’s husband Caesar Matandirotya to take legal action.

It said Matandirotya, a Harare businessman, has since separated from his wife. The two have a baby boy who is 14 months old, the paper said.Biti denied the allegations and sued the newspaper.

A few months ago Tsvangirai was accused of having an affair with a Bulawayo woman Aquilina Kayidza Pamberi. It was reported that the woman’s husband Jacob Mandeya eventually divorced her due to adultery involving the premier, although Pamberi insisted that domestic violence was the real cause of the marriage breakdown.  

Tsvangirai has also featured prominently in the media over his romantic escapades involving other women, including his wife’s younger sister Leah Mhundwa and Dr Arikana Chihombori.

Ncube, also Industry and Trade minister, was also earlier this year entangled in an affair involving Zimbabwe Football Association chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya. The story was also published in the state-controlled Sunday Mail. Bulawayo arch-Bishop Pius Ncube was a few years ago destroyed through a CIO-driven sex scandal plot publicised through the state media.

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