File photo shows Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga (R), together with his wife Mary Mubaiwa (L) attending the inauguration ceremony of President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aug. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Chen Yaqin)
Zimbabwe Vice President Constantino Chiwenga's wife Mary Mubaiwa faces a new charge of attempting to murder her husband, following her arrest on charges of money laundering, fraud and externalization of funds.
HARARE, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- The estranged wife of Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Mary Mubaiwa, was on Monday slapped with an additional charge of attempting to murder her husband.
This followed her arrest on Saturday on charges of money laundering, fraud and externalization of funds.
She was remanded in custody for routine remand, and was advised to apply for bail at the High Court.
Mubaiwa is alleged to have attempted to kill her ailing husband who was receiving medical treatment in a South African hospital in July this year by allegedly unlawfully removing the medical intravenous giving set and the central venous catheter which were inserted on the VP.
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 Chiwenga depended on, state news agency Newziana reported. The intention, Reza said, was allegedly to harm her husband.
Following the incident, Mubaiwa was banned from visiting her husband in hospital, Reza said.
Mubaiwa is also alleged to have externalized 1 million U.S. dollars and laundered about 920,000 dollars.
Mubaiwa, against whom Chiwenga has instituted divorce proceedings, was also accused by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission for allegedly misrepresenting to the courts that Chiwenga had consented to upgrading their customary marriage to a civil marriage under the Marriages Act.
In Zimbabwe, wife's rights and property will be better protected when divorcing under a civil marriage. ■
