Vice president Constantino Chiwenga is set to testify on Wednesday in his estranged wife Marry Mubaiwa’s trial for allegedly trying to force through an upgraded marriage to him without his knowledge.
Chiwenga’s testimony is expected to wind up the fast-tracked trial which started last week.
Witnesses who testified last week included former judge president Justice George Chiweshe, Justice Munamato Mutevedzi and Nyarai Bwanya, an aide of the vice president.
On Tuesday, four other witnesses testified including magistrate Linda Dzvene who was the secretary for Mutevedzi.
Dzvene said she was the one who filled the marriage documents for Mubaiwa that included a section where she stated that she was a divorcee.
Mubaiwa’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa asked if she was given a divorce certificate when she completed the forms and she said she did not consult anyone.
Dzvene said she only used documents provided by Mutevedzi.
She said she became a marriage officer and magistrate in February 2020 after completing her law degree in December 2019.
Dzvene also exonerated Mubaiwa saying she did not apply for a marriage certificate because she did not fill any forms or sign any documents.
Colonel Gesham Muradzi, who is vice president Chiwenga aide, also said he was phoned by Mubaiwa who gave him US$15,000 for the wedding rings.
Muradzi said he was asked to handover the money to one Bra Mike who is a friend to Chiwenga and a jeweller.
He said he collected the rings from one Devon Peter Steward.
Under cross examination, Muradzi said he did not know if Chiwenga asked for a wedding from Mubaiwa’s family because he was not there.
Another witness Carrington Kazingizi who was Mubaiwa’s driver and a presidential security agent said Mubaiwa was already preparing for a wedding as preparations were in advanced stage.
Steward also told court that he gave Muradzi wedding rings which had been ordered for the event.
He said he did not know who actually ordered the rings but was told to prepare the wedding rings by his father-in-law, Bra Mike.
The prosecution alleges that Mubaiwa fraudulently tried to procure registration or upgrade of her marriage to Chiwenga from an unregistered union to a marriage under the Marriage Act [Chapter 5:11] by misrepresenting to marriage officer Mutevedzi that her husband had consented to the marriage.
Through the alleged misrepresentation, she allegedly induced Mutevedzi, then the acting chief magistrate, to prepare marriage licences and complete the marriage register in preparation to solemnise the marriage during a private ceremony at the couple’s Borrowdale residence.
The ceremony did not take place because Mutevedzi did not find anyone at the residence when he went there to solemnise the marriage on July 2, 2019. The State alleges that Mubaiwa’s alleged misrepresentation “caused prejudice to good administration and reputation of the vice president.”
She denies charges of fraud and misrepresentation.
