Mubaiwa denied bail

Harare (New Ziana)-Marry Mubaiwa, the estranged wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, was on Monday denied bail by the Harare Magistrates Court in a litany of cases she is facing, including attempted murder of her husband, fraud and money laundering.

She is accused of externalising more than US$1 million, mainly to South Africa where she is suspected to have acquired an expensive house, and two top of the range vehicles using the proceeds.

The funds were allegedly externalised under the pretext it was payment for some imports.

Mubaiwa is also accused of attempting to solemnise her marriage to Vice President Chiwenga without his consent as required by law.

In denying her bail, Magistrate Crispen Mberewere said Mubaiwa was a flight risk as she owned the means to flee and had purchased properties in South Africa.

“No one is immune to flight. We have judges and prominent politicians who have taken flight. The accused is used to a more comfortable lifestyle so the possibility of moving to prison is frightening. Clearly the court is not going to gamble with such a serious case.

“The accused has been found unsuitable candidate for bail; bail is therefore denied,’ said the magistrate.

She was remanded in custody to December 30th.

Mubaiwa was arrested at the weekend, and brought to the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday morning, originally facing the money laundering and fraud charges.

But while in court, an additional charge of attempted murder – involving her husband – was preferred against Mubaiwa, with the state saying this involved her alleged tampering with medical equipment in a hospital ward VP Chiwenga was admitted in South Africa early this year.

Vice President Chiwenga had been unwell for much of this year, and was admitted to hospitals in South Africa, India and China, and returned home from lengthy treatment in Beijing early this month.

State prosecutor Michael Reza told the court that on one of her visits to her husband’s hospital ward, Mubaiwa asked his security aides to leave the couple alone, and used the privacy to tamper with the medical equipment on which Vice President Chiwenga, who was gravely ill, depended on.

The intention, he said, was allegedly to harm her husband.

The court then advised Mubaiwa to apply for bail at the High Court on the charges of attempting to kill the Vice President.

Mubaiwa’s defense argued that she deserved bail because of ill health; she was a mother to young children who needed her during this period when the parents are divorcing.

The court also heard that the Zimbabwe Anti- Corruption Commission was investigating other cases on how Mubaiwa handled funds belonging to an organisation of spouses of military men, Musha Mukadzi.

New Ziana