No doubt - if you are a follower of news in Zimbabwe - you would have read of the exploits of one Jocelyn Chiwenga, wife of the defence forces chief in that country.

Jocelyn Chiwenga

Jocelyn Chiwenga

I decided to do a little digging on the internet to learn more about this woman.

I read an article which briefly explained she was a ‘knickerless’ prostitute who initially married a Dutch man before having an affair with Constantine Chiwenga. He left his wife, and she her husband and they have been together ever since.

Jocelyn famously stated that she “had not tasted white blood” since 1980, when in 2002 she invaded a white-owned farm 30km East of Harare.

She went on to disobey a High Court order instructing her to leave the farm. She commandeered the farm, the vehicles, the homestead, the crops and did so with a stick of heavily armed soldiers obeying her beck and call.

The farmer reported how she had refused to shake his hand in greeting, as she did not want to shake the hand of a “white pig”…

She later ordered her soldiers to shoot “the white bastards” and although the soldiers cocked their weapons, they did not open fire… Chiwenga went on to describe herself as the “new Mbuya Nehanda” and boasted that she was “filthy rich”.

Chiwenga also told the farmer that Vice President Joseph Msika had “no balls” after he reported the matter to him. She claimed that no one had the power to remove them from the farm.

The farmer’s losses – just in material loss, not the crop – were then calculated to be in the region of US$20 million. I wonder what that would calculate out today. The Chiwengas had promised to pay the farmer compensation if he kept the story out of the press, but he has never been paid.

In March 2003, Chiwenga assaulted a journalist Gugulethu Moyo, who was in police custody. No charges have ever been brought to bear against her.

Now she has assaulted a photographer. And now is suing a newspaper for all that they have written about her. And her email to the newspaper’s office is the rant of a person clearly on the edge of reason. She threatened to double and then triple to amount - claiming the third billion would be “for the poor”.

She has admitted to the assault on international radio.  But we don’t see the police taking any action.

In all this, I don’t see a word of caution from the upper echelons of ZANU PF, nor a consoling word from her husband.

Why do we not hear from them? Because they see this incident as another reason to sink the barb in deeper. Actions speak louder than words, and the continued silence from the regime indicates that they associate themselves with the actions of this woman.

I also find her husband’s silence of some concern. The lack of a statement would seem to indicate that the senior man of the defence forces sanctions the actions of his wife.

Good luck to ‘em.

Take care.

‘debvhu