Ex-lover tries to block Zimbabwe Prime Minister's weekend wedding - Demands R120,000 a month in up-keep - ZANU-PF seizes on messy Tsvangirai private life
HARARE — A legal bid by a former lover of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to stop his wedding on Saturday has laid bare a messy private life and damaged the political reputation of the main rival to long-serving leader Robert Mugabe.
Locardia Karimatsenga, 39, has filed a High Court injunction to block Tsvangirai’s wedding to fiancee Elizabeth Macheka, arguing that she was his wife under the customary marriage law.
The filing, due to be decided on Wednesday, has sparked a frenzy in Harare newspapers, which have plastered their front pages with headlines such as “Tsvangirai wedding war”, “Plot against PM intensifies” and “D-Day for PM Wedding”.
Having the nuptials blocked would be a major embarrassment for Tsvangirai, who had been expected to invite Mugabe, his partner in a fractious coalition formed after a disputed 2008 election, and some foreign leaders to the ceremony.
While 88-year-old Mugabe has been criticised for turning what was once one of Africa’s strongest economies into a basket case, Tsvangirai is now being publicly questioned over his relationships with women and money.
His personal troubles started after the death of his wife, Susan, in a 2009 car crash. They have handed Mugabe political ammunition as he seeks to extend his three-decade rule in an election expected within a year.
Karimatsenga, a tall and sturdily built woman, said by local newspapers to have a taste for luxury, alleged she had suffered a miscarriage while carrying Tsvangirai’s child last year and that this had “mentally devastated him”.
In June, the 60-year-old also confirmed newspaper reports that he had fathered a love child with a 24-year-old woman in the second city of Bulawayo and that he was looking after them both.
“It is embarrassing, plain and simple,” a top official in the MDC told Reuters. “It is an unwanted distraction which we would rather not have.”
The High Court has also received another application from Karimatsenga in which she demands $15,000 (R120,000) from Tsvangirai for her monthly upkeep, including $1,700 (R13,600) for “hair and beauty therapy” and $1,200 (about R10,000) for telephone bills.
She is also seeking $3,000 (R24,000) for rent, $4,000 (R32,000) for groceries and $1,500 (R12,000) as a clothing allowance — arguing that Tsvangirai has the money.
The sums compare to per capita GDP of $800 (R6,500) a year in Zimbabwe, where government workers earn an average $300 (R2,400) a month.
Making matters worse for Tsvangirai is his recent move into a $3 million (about R25 million) state residence.
ZANU-PF is certain to pounce on Tsvangirai’s private life in any election campaign, using it to paint him as an unreliable leader.
Politburo member Jonathan Moyo has derided Tsvangirai in newspaper columns for his “open zip and shut mind” politics.
- Zimdiaspora.com reports that in her court papers, Karimatsenga says Tsvangirai became mentally unstable as a result of a miscarriage she suffered and now needs psychological and psychiatric help.
She said the Prime Minister’s plan to wed another woman he met only a few months ago was a sign of a psychological breakdown.
“The miscarriage has mentally devastated him. My husband has not come to terms with it. He is mentally unstable in that he has gone to marry the second respondent, whom he met a few months ago.
“He has not even introduced her to his family and his family still considers me as his wife. This shows his mental state and that is why I question his mental ability to even engage in this marriage. I believe he is taking his frustrations of the miscarriage by marrying (Ms Macheka),” she said.
“...Despite all I have said above, I love him very much and would want to remain married to him. I believe that his psychological problems can be resolved by him seeking counselling from qualified psychologists or mental specialists.
“He is a good man and if he seeks psychological and psychiatric assistance, he can return to his old condition of being a caring and loving husband.”
Love tussle tarnishes Tsvangirai
Ex-lover tries to block Zimbabwe Prime Minister's weekend wedding - Demands R120,000 a month in up-keep - ZANU-PF seizes on messy Tsvangirai private life
HARARE — A legal bid by a former lover of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to stop his wedding on Saturday has laid bare a messy private life and damaged the political reputation of the main rival to long-serving leader Robert Mugabe.
Locardia Karimatsenga, 39, has filed a High Court injunction to block Tsvangirai’s wedding to fiancee Elizabeth Macheka, arguing that she was his wife under the customary marriage law.
The filing, due to be decided on Wednesday, has sparked a frenzy in Harare newspapers, which have plastered their front pages with headlines such as “Tsvangirai wedding war”, “Plot against PM intensifies” and “D-Day for PM Wedding”.
Having the nuptials blocked would be a major embarrassment for Tsvangirai, who had been expected to invite Mugabe, his partner in a fractious coalition formed after a disputed 2008 election, and some foreign leaders to the ceremony.
While 88-year-old Mugabe has been criticised for turning what was once one of Africa’s strongest economies into a basket case, Tsvangirai is now being publicly questioned over his relationships with women and money.
His personal troubles started after the death of his wife, Susan, in a 2009 car crash. They have handed Mugabe political ammunition as he seeks to extend his three-decade rule in an election expected within a year.
Karimatsenga, a tall and sturdily built woman, said by local newspapers to have a taste for luxury, alleged she had suffered a miscarriage while carrying Tsvangirai’s child last year and that this had “mentally devastated him”.
In June, the 60-year-old also confirmed newspaper reports that he had fathered a love child with a 24-year-old woman in the second city of Bulawayo and that he was looking after them both.
“It is embarrassing, plain and simple,” a top official in the MDC told Reuters. “It is an unwanted distraction which we would rather not have.”
The High Court has also received another application from Karimatsenga in which she demands $15,000 (R120,000) from Tsvangirai for her monthly upkeep, including $1,700 (R13,600) for “hair and beauty therapy” and $1,200 (about R10,000) for telephone bills.
She is also seeking $3,000 (R24,000) for rent, $4,000 (R32,000) for groceries and $1,500 (R12,000) as a clothing allowance — arguing that Tsvangirai has the money.
The sums compare to per capita GDP of $800 (R6,500) a year in Zimbabwe, where government workers earn an average $300 (R2,400) a month.
Making matters worse for Tsvangirai is his recent move into a $3 million (about R25 million) state residence.
ZANU-PF is certain to pounce on Tsvangirai’s private life in any election campaign, using it to paint him as an unreliable leader.
Politburo member Jonathan Moyo has derided Tsvangirai in newspaper columns for his “open zip and shut mind” politics.
She said the Prime Minister’s plan to wed another woman he met only a few months ago was a sign of a psychological breakdown.
“The miscarriage has mentally devastated him. My husband has not come to terms with it. He is mentally unstable in that he has gone to marry the second respondent, whom he met a few months ago.
“He has not even introduced her to his family and his family still considers me as his wife. This shows his mental state and that is why I question his mental ability to even engage in this marriage. I believe he is taking his frustrations of the miscarriage by marrying (Ms Macheka),” she said.
“...Despite all I have said above, I love him very much and would want to remain married to him. I believe that his psychological problems can be resolved by him seeking counselling from qualified psychologists or mental specialists.
“He is a good man and if he seeks psychological and psychiatric assistance, he can return to his old condition of being a caring and loving husband.”
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