Love tussle tarnishes Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai
Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:09am GMT
* Ex-lover tries to block PM's weekend wedding
* Demands $15,000 a month in up-keep
* ZANU-PF seizes on messy Tsvangirai private life
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - 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 former British colony's "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 from Tsvangirai for her monthly upkeep, including
$1,700 for "hair and beauty therapy" and $1,200 for telephone bills.
She is also seeking $3,000 for rent, $4,000 for groceries and $1,500 as a
clothing allowance - arguing that Tsvangirai has the money.
The sums compare to per capita GDP of $800 a year in Zimbabwe, where
government workers earn an average $300 a month. Making matters worse for
Tsvangirai is his recent move into a $3 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. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed
Cropley and Matthew Tostevin)
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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