Wife of Zimbabwe’s vice-president charged with attempting to kill him
- Marry Chiwenga is accused of trying to kill her husband by denying him medical treatment and later removing an intravenous drip and a catheter
Marry Chiwenga, a former model and wife of Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday where she was also charged with money laundering and fraud.
Wearing a floral dress, she waved to journalists as she entered the court’s holding cells. The magistrate ordered that she remain in custody pending a bail hearing.
While Chiwenga was in hospital on July 8, she went to his room, asked security to leave and, while alone with him, removed an intravenous drip and a catheter, causing him to bleed profusely, according to the charge sheet. She then forced him off the bed and tried to bring him out of the ward before being intercepted by his security detail, the charges said.
Marry Chiwenga is also accused of laundering about US$1 million to neighbouring South Africa by pretending to pay for goods that were never brought into Zimbabwe, according to the charges.
Robert Mugabe left US$10 million, as half of Zimbabwe faces hunger
She was seen as close to her husband before and immediately after he led the military to force the late former president, Robert Mugabe, to resign in 2017.
She faded from the limelight as she and her husband began to suffer ill-health, both with visibly swollen hands. She has not been seen in public with Chiwenga since he returned from China in November. On Monday, the state run Herald newspaper described her as “the estranged wife” of the vice-president.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has described fighting corruption as a top priority since assuming power in 2017. But critics and the opposition say the anti-corruption commission is mainly targeted people viewed as dissenters.