Marry Chiwenga  prosecution reveals a toxic cocktail of corruption, misogyny and abuse of office

This is not Chiwenga’s first messy divorce.

When Vice President Chiwenga divorced his first wife, Jocelyn, she claimed 20 soldiers from the presidential guard were sent to evict her from her farm. As if that were not enough, she said soldiers were sent to forcibly evict her from their home.

The divorce case went on under a media blackout. While many felt sorry for Jocelyn, several felt she was getting a taste of her own medicine as she too, was as tyrannous as Marry Chiwenga while she was married to the vice president, then still just an army general.

Jocelyn is best known for attacking Morgan Tsvangirai in a supermarket.

Just as Chiwenga managed to evict Jocelyn from their home without a court order, and get a divorce order in the absence of her lawyers, he has now managed, using the same courts, to get his wife thrown into prison.

What kind of person treats women like this? What kind of person gets the mother of his three young children arrested and humiliated like this? Surely, most people would want, for the sake of their children at least, to keep this as out of the public eye as possible, but not our vice president.

We are led by people who have no respect for their loved ones. People who even in their personal lives use the law to punish those who cross them.

If Chiwenga can use the country’s highest institutions and courts against his wife, is there any hope for us when we stand up to him for his corrupt and misogynistic ways?

By Thandekile Moyo for Daily Maverick

Ed: For the record Jocelyn was not Chiwenga’s first wife. His first wife was Margaret. They had four children when they separated in 1989 before divorcing.

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