Breaking News - Mary Chiwenga ARRESTED [Updated]

Mary Chiwenga has been arrested. Mary who is now estranged from her husband, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission (ZACC).

Zimbabwe’s current second lady has been arrested on a number of charges. She is facing charges of fraud, misrepresentation and money laundering. According to award-winning journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, the charges relate to a transaction where Mary was purchasing a house in neighbouring South Africa.

The anti-graft body is charging Mary Chiwenga with misrepresentation. They allege that she fraudulently approached High Court Judge President Justice George Chiweshe claiming that her husband wanted a marriage officer to so solemnise their marriage.

Mary and the Vice President who was very sick at the time are reported to have been solemnised in a highly secretive function held in Borrowdale in June. Chiwenga customarily married Mary in 2011 when he paid a whopping US$47 000 as the bride price, but the couple were yet to solemnize the marriage under the country’s Marriage Act Chapter 5:11. ZACC is accusing Mary of soiling the Vice President’s name.

Mary was arrested this evening and is currently being detained at Rhodesville Police Station in Harare, where she is likely to spend the night.

The arrest caps the lowest point in what has been a torrid few weeks for the former model. Mary’s world seemed like it started to unravel when her current husband, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga returned from a four-month-long medical sojourn in China. Mary was conspicuous by her absence when the former General was met at the airport by close family members.

Breaking News - Mary Chiwenga ARRESTED [Updated]

A few hours later, Mary was again absent when President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa paid a courtesy call to Chiwenga. This prompted massive speculation about her relationship with Chiwenga, as there had been previous reports indicating that the Vice President had banned her from visiting him in the hospital when he was fighting for his life.

A few days later, it was confirmed that Mary had fallen out of Chiwenga’s good graces after the Vice President filed for divorce. According to sources close to the developments, Mary attracted Chiwenga’s ire when she asked him to write a will at a time when he was fighting for his life. Chiwenga is said to have taken this the wrong way, and accused Mary of wanting him dead. There are also reports that Mary has been accused of being complicit in Chiwenga’s alleged poisoning as well as infidelity allegations.

Chiwenga is also seeking to have Mary evicted from the couple’s sumptuous Borrowdale Mansion although he is said to have demanded custody of the couple’s children.

Mary is also fighting a huge US$700 000 lawsuit filed against her by ex-husband Shingi Kaondera. Kaondera is alleging that Mary forged the divorce papers which allowed her to leave him and get married to Chiwenga in 2011. There is suspicion in Mary’s camp that Kaondera is being bankrolled by Chiwenga. The reasoning being that if Mary’s divorce from the former Warriors star is deemed fraudulent and void, this will mean that she was never legally married to Chiwenga.

This marks a dramatic reversal for Mary Chiwenga, from the heady days of the coup in November 2017, when she publicly danced to Jah Parayzah’s song “Kutonga Kwaro” while pointing at her husband (then) General Constantino Chiwenga. She seemed to take pride in suggesting that Chiwenga was the mythical hero (Gamba) that was being referred to in Jah Prayzah’s song.