Confusion over Tsvangirai ‘marriage'

HARARE, Thursday

Zimbabwe’s lawmakers have congratulated Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over his reported remarriage amid claims by his aides the stories about the union were exaggerated.

On Tuesday, the family of a wealthy Harare businesswoman Ms Locadia Tembo said the PM whose first wife died in a car accident in 2009, had paid $36,000 (Sh3.2m) and 10 head of cattle to seek their daughter’s hand in marriage.

Ms Tembo’s relatives were widely quoted by daily papers saying Mr Tsvangirai, 59, had asked for a white wedding as early as next month. But on Wednesday the script had changed dramatically.

Mr Tsvangirai’s aides said he had only sent emissaries to pay “damages” to Ms Tembo’s family because she was pregnant with his child.

Damages refer to a traditional practice where compensation is paid to the family of a woman pregnant with a first child out of wedlock.

Ms Tembo, 39, is a divorcee with a 16 year-old son, making the PM’s explanation curious. Sources have speculated that the PM’s lover is expecting twins.

The premier’s camp is also disputing the amount of money paid to the Tembos saying they only parted with $10,000 (Sh900,000) in cash.

Mr Tsvangirai’s spokesman Mr Luke Tamborinyoka maintains that the traditional marriage ceremony that has been extensively covered by local and international media never took place.

“The official position to the best of my knowledge is that nothing has happened,” he said. “But if at all the Prime Minister is going to marry, the nation is going to be told at the appropriate time.

“What I am telling you is the Prime Minister’s position.” However, this did not stop President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF from formally congratulating Mr Tsvangirai on the “marriage.”

“May I on behalf of our party Zanu PF congratulate the Right Honourable Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for marrying his new wife at a traditional ceremony on Monday,” Zanu PF chairman Mr Simon Khaya Moyo told Senate.

“We wish him and his wife a rewarding relationship, good health and God’s blessings.” Ms Tembo is a sister to a Zanu PF MP Ms Biata Beatrice Nyamupinga who has been extensively quoted by the media confirming the marriage.

After ululations and congratulatory messages, the MDC’s Senate chief whip Ms Gladys Dube asked Mr Moyo to withdraw his congratulatory message saying the PM had not officially informed their party members of the marriage.