Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai ends 12-day marriage

HARARE

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has ended his 12-day marriage with a wealthy Harare businesswoman citing interference by the country's intelligence service and political rivals.

The 59 year-old politician issued a statement on Wednesday after days of frantic speculation in the media about his marriage.

He admitted initiating traditional marriage rites with Ms Lorcadia Karimatsenga Tembo last week.

But he claimed that he suddenly became a by-stander in the marriage as government and state security agents appeared to be a step ahead of him.

"My genuine intention has been betrayed and hearts have had to search long and hard to the meaning of this well-choreographed drama that has now been hijacked to cause political damage on my person and character," Mr Tsvangirai said.

"This relationship has been irretrievably damaged to a point where marriage is now inconceivable."

He admitted sending a delegation on November 18 to the 39 year-old Ms Tembo's home to formalise their relationship.

Initial reports had indicated that he paid $36 000 and 10 head of cattle in bride price and immediately asked for a white wedding probably next month.

Mr Tsvangirai's aides dismissed the rumours saying he had only paid $10 000 in "damages" because the woman was pregnant with his twins.

At the weekend state media pursued Ms Tembo to the PM's rural home in Manicaland province where she had reportedly gone to fulfill some of the traditional rituals before a marriage.

Again Mr Tsvangirai's aides said he was not aware of the his new wife's visit to his mother and claimed she could be working with state security agents trying to harm his reputation.

"I was well meaning and had good intentions to rebuild my family and start a new lease of life following the tragic passing on of my wife Susan on March 6, 2009," the statement added.

"But since the day I sent a delegation to the Karimatsenga family, everything has been played in the Press and I have become an innocent bystander in what is supposed to be my relationship.

"I have become a spectator in this relationship and things are happening too fast, on camera (sic) and without my knowledge.

"This led me to conclude that there is a greater and thicker plot around this issue which has undermined my confidence in this relationship."

Ms Tembo's sister Ms Beater Nyamupinga is a Member of Parliament from President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party.

Officials from the PM's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party also believed that the woman had close links with the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), which they say has been used to bring down President Mugabe's opponents in the past.

Before Mr Tsvangirai's statement, the veteran Zimbabwean ruler spoke at a private function about the marriage urging the media to leave the PM and his wife alone.

"We want peace, we want people to be happy, we don't want them to live in fear and we want them to be their own masters, mistresses, to marry people they choose," President Mugabe said.

"He who wants many wives, one or two, it is his own choice.

"If one chooses his wife why should people mind about that, it's his own choice. Now newspapers write about that and are at his case, why?"

Mr Tsvangirai who joined a unity government with President Mugabe in 2009 has been linked to several women since his wife's death.

Last year, a 22 year-old Bulawayo woman said the PM had fathered her son. Mr Tsvangirai has six children with his late wife.