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| Morgan Tsvangirai |
Forget his looks, it does seem Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is one hell of a player. His wedding plans received another jolt with another woman stepping forward with claims of being romantically involved with him.
The “wedding war” is fuelling a scandal that has already hurt his reputation. The dispute has handed long-serving President Robert Mugabe political ammunition as he seeks to extend his three-decade rule in an election expected within a year since Tsvangirai is his main rival.
On Thursday, Nosipho Regina Shilubane, a South African woman, lodged a legal challenge to try to block the premier’s wedding, the day after the High Court threw out an application by another former lover to halt the ceremony.
In papers filed at a magistrates court she said she was engaged to Tsvangirai after being introduced to him by her church pastor at a hotel in South Africa in September 2009.
Tsvangirai’s colourful private life has come under scrutiny since the death of his wife Susan in a car crash in 2009, with local media revelling in stories of his relationships with numerous women.
The other woman keen to halt the wedding — Locardia Karimatsenga — is appealing a judge’s decision to reject her challenge to Tsvangirai’s marriage to fiancee Elizabeth Macheka.
COURT AFFIDAVIT FROM SA WOMAN CHALLENGING TSVANGIRAI WEDDING: From Nehandaradio.com
“I was introduced to 1st applicant [Tsvangirai] by my Pastor Mr Lazarus Muriritirwa from the Gospel Assembly Church sometime on the 5th September 2009. This was in Johannesburg at Monte Casino Shopping Complex. He said there was a friend of his who wanted to meet me. I only got to know it was Tsvangirai when I went to his hotel room in Pallazio Hotel in Fourways, in Monte Casino Mall.
“When we were introduced at his hotel room, he asked his Pastor and his son Edwin Tsvangirai, who were present on the day, to give us some privacy and we remained the two of us in the hotel room.
“When we were left alone in the hotel room, he told me that he was a widower and that he was looking for a new bride to marry as he had lost his wife and he had approached the pastor to find a suitable woman for him.
“He told me that he wanted to start a relationship with me and that I could go home and think about it and if I was willing and interested I could return the next day and we talk as on this day he said he had other things to do since it was his son’s birthday and he was having a party for him. So he left for the birthday and then I went home but before I left he gave me his business card with his name and details and the [cellphone] number.
“He called on me on the same date at midnight just to tell me that the party was good and that he had enjoyed meeting me. The following day he phoned me again and asked if I had ever been to Zimbabwe, and I said I had only came once for a church conference. He said he wanted me to come and see Zimbabwe. I agreed that I wanted to date him and I would like to see him and visit Zimbabwe. So he bought me an aeroplane ticket… I stayed at my pastor’s house in Borrowdale and he would come after work to see me.
“I stayed in Zimbabwe from 18th September to 20th September 2009. We made love for the first time on Saturday 19th September 2009 at the pastor’s house; in Borrowdale. I returned to South Africa on the 20th September 2009.
“After my first visit, I returned to South Africa and he phoned me and asked me where I was staying and I advised him that I was staying in Yeoville and he expressed disgust and shock and he said ‘how can you stay in that hell hole; you need to get a nicer place in a nice location where I can come and see you in an uptown area’.
“I looked for a place and I found a town house in a place called Buccleuch in Johannesburg North, near Sandton… R13,000 was deposited into my [bank account] by Morgan. I paid for the place and moved into the new place at the end of November 2009.
“We communicated daily on my mobile .. and in November he said that he wanted to go with me for a holiday and on the 28th December 2009, he flew to South Africa with his children Millicent and Vincent who are twins. We met at O.R. Tambo airport to fly together to the Seychelles.
“We went on holiday from the 28th December to 10th January 2010. We were intimate throughout the holiday period and we always had unprotected sex [no condom] all the times as he had asked me to go on family planning medication as he said he did not want to have anymore children.
“On our return from the Seychelles, we dropped off in Kenya and I connected to South Africa and Morgan proceeded to Dubai with his children and aides.
“We continued communicating on the phone everyday and whenever he went to a foreign country, he would pass by South Africa and I would go to whichever hotel he would be in and we would be intimate and make love two or three times on each occasion. The relationship continued.
“On the 19th November 2010, he asked me to follow him to Gaborone in Botswana where he had gone for vacations, he said he was distressing, and he missed me and wanted to make love to me, I eagerly followed him, and we stayed together at his hotel making love.
“On the 27th December 2010, we went for another love cruise holiday in Singapore for two weeks until early 2011. Our holiday love cruise was a boat called Legend of the Seas.
“In January 2011, Morgan came to our house in Buccleuch as he said he now wanted to be serious with me and throw me in the kitchen. I introduced him to my two children as my boyfriend and during this year he visited me on numerous occasions with his motorcade and sometimes he would even come with South African Police Services motorcade vehicles.
“In February 2011, Morgan proposed and asked me to marry him and he indicated that he wanted to have a wedding ceremony and wed me in Zimbabwe. He told me that he would speak to our pastor for all the wedding arrangements.
“I accepted his marriage proposal and I told him that he needed to pay lobola as per our Tsonga custom. He promised he would do that and he tasked me to go and speak to my family to arrange a date which I did and was set for early 2012.
“Morgan started acting funny when stories and issues of his numerous women started, first there was a woman called xxx, then xxx [names removed] and then Locardia Tembo. Every time I asked about these stories, he would deny them and I always believed his explanations as we were in love and I never thought that Morgan could have such a character as every time he professed undying love for me and he never seemed to be such a chauvinistic man that he now poses himself to be.
“When we got to January 2012, my family convened and waited for Morgan to come for the lobola negotiations. He failed to come for the customary wedding ceremony because he said he had to deal with government business as the Prime Minister so he would reconvene the date when he was free and he indicated that it would be the end of December 2012. For all intents and purposes we are still engaged to be married.
“I am therefore shocked to discover that Morgan intends to marry another woman Elizabeth Macheka on Saturday 15th September 2012 without my knowledge and without first of all finishing issues with me, that is his proposal of marriage, engagement and his outstanding lobola negotiations and marriage to me.
“We are still very much in love and as such I object to granting of a marriage licence.”
