BY CHARLES LAITON
VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga (pictured)’s divorce proceedings has opened a can of worms with the retired army general disclosing graphic details of how his estranged wife, Marry Chiwenga (nee Mubaiwa), allegedly consulted witchdoctors and sprayed unknown substances on his clothes as she tried to kill him and inherit his vast property empire.
The VP opened the lid on their acrimonious fallout while responding to Marry’s court application where she sought unfettered access to the couple’s three minor children, top-of-the-range vehicles and their matrimonial Borrowdale house. He also claimed Marry, who he customarily married following his divorce with Jocelyn, was “a drug addict”.
“Applicant (Marry) is a very dangerous person who basically wanted to liquidate me (Chiwenga) from the face of this earth. Possibly what saved me was failure on my part to sign a marriage certificate due to incapacity, which if done would have been my passport to death as her possible wish to self-aggrandisement would have been achieved,” Chiwenga said in his founding affidavit.
“While I went out of the country for treatment it has since transpired that applicant’s actions caused my illness, leading to attempted murder charges against her.”
He also claimed to have become aware that Marry had been using “juju” on him when he returned to his Borrowdale residence just after her arrest late last year by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) on several allegations – among them externalisation of funds and money laundering.
“It became incumbent on the respondent (Chiwenga) to take the children. I took them on holiday abroad and initially they had signs of trauma as they explained the black magic rituals they were subjected to by the applicant,” Chiwenga said.
“The various tools of trade used by the witchdoctors which were unexpectedly left behind by the applicant after her arrest told a horror story. My clothes in some instances were heaped together and sprayed by applicant with some unknown substance. I had to take the children away to cleanse the memories of the horrors they experienced…witchcraft was all over the house, it is embarrassing in this day and age.”
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General (retired) Chiwenga urged the court to revoke Marry’s $50 000 bail granted by the High Court last week, saying she had supplied the court with false information pertaining to her diplomatic passports and her current place of residence.
“Number 614 Nick Price Drive, Borrowdale, Harare is my house of sentimental value awarded to me by High Court judge Justice Mutema. I have no other home,” he said.
“When I came back from China I had no other home to go to. I went there after the arrest of the applicant and have been staying thereat. I am a State witness and in other charges I am a complainant. She surely cannot stay where I am staying. Since her release from prison, she is staying somewhere in one of her houses. She must stay there so as not to interfere with a State witness and a complainant.”
The Vice-President added: “She is one of the causes of the predicament I endured in India, South Africa and China leading to her being barred to visit me in China.” He claimed Marry had two diplomatic passports.
“She has surrendered one diplomatic passport, yet she has two. She is not a candid person. By lying she should have her bail revoked….applicant has become a dangerous person to me and by extension to the children,” Chiwenga said.
Chiwenga said Marry only owns a Range Rover (Autobiography) and other vehicles in South Africa but the rest of the cars she wanted to lay her hands on were owned by the State.
“Again and furthermore, I note that the ancillary relief sought is for vehicles and clothes, which vehicles do not belong to her but to the State. The certificate of urgency does not state how she acquired and came to own six vehicles belonging to the State, some of which were my package from the army when I left to enter political office,” he said.
“The Toyota Lexus belongs to the respondent allocated to him (Chiwenga) under the Command Agriculture programme, to supervise the programme countrywide. Mercedes Benz S400 is a Ministry of Defence vehicle purchased for use by the respondent when he was Commander Defence Forces (CDF).
Chiwenga said Marry was not suitable to be granted custody of the couple’s children.
“There is evidence to suggest that the applicant is unfit to look after the children. While this is a subject of another hearing, Annexure D herein attached to her bail application shows how unfit she is to have custody. The medical affidavit on page 12 is very clear. The doctor concluded that she should be under the care of a physician, a surgeon and a psychiatrist,” he said.
“It is indicated that she has flashbacks, suffers from lack of sleep and has difficulty breathing, symptoms of illicit drug abuse. This abuse also caused swollen limbs and arms due to pricking needles. Applicant cannot be trusted with children in the circumstances.”
The matter is pending.
