A distress call was received by Makoni police in Chitungwiza on a day in late January. A cabinet minister answered the phone and said there was someone breaking into her home in the vicinity.
The man was promptly taken into custody by the police, who identified him as a foreign national who claimed to be from Rwanda. The minister and her spouse were also present at the residence; however, they cannot be identified legally.
The minister had an odd request for the police: just arrest him, don’t question him. The minister was recruited to the cabinet in September of last year following years of activism in a women’s movement founded to exalt President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
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Despite this, police proceeded as usual and brought the “intruder” in for questioning. By the time the interview was over, the cops had learned something that may have a significant impact on the minister’s marriage and possibly her job.
Senior officers, unsure of how to continue, advised the minister that it would be best to settle the issue out of the public eye, as taking him to court would inevitably bring attention to it. The individual was freed and no charges were filed, a source with knowledge of the conversations told ZimLive.
The minister, who is in her late 30s, had lied, the “intruder” informed the authorities. He was not only the father of her two children, whom she had for years misrepresented as her husband’s, but she had also invited him to the house.
He presented DNA evidence that established his paternity for the minister’s two offspring. Furthermore, he claimed to have built the house where he had just been detained and to have receipts for every material purchased for its construction, according to our source.
Before her husband suddenly showed up, the man explained to the officers that he had been at the house because the minister had summoned her in for a meeting.
“She sought US$10,000 per month for child support; she had called the Rwandan man to discuss it. The minister decided to phone the police and report the man as an intruder after her husband arrived, ZimLive was informed. She didn’t think she could explain the scene away.
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“Her poor handling of the situation has led her husband to discover the truth.”
The man claims to be the father of the minister’s two children, but ZimLive has not been able to independently verify this information.
We requested the minister’s response to the accusations. In response, she said, “I can’t comment.”
“I haven’t received such a report,” Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, a police spokesperson, stated.
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