'Chiwenga denying Mary access to their kids'

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga's estranged wife has laid into the powerful politician, accusing him of abusing his office to deny her access to their three children - aged ten and below - for more than a year.

Marry Chiwenga, nee Mubaiwa, poured her heart out in a statement posted on Twitter Friday, decrying the justice system for failing to "recognize the right of minors they claim to protect."

The 37-year-old former model, who is currently battling severe lymphedema, which has left cavernous wounds on her arms and legs, also accused Chiwenga of abusing the courts to block the release of her passports so she is unable to seek desperately-needed medical treatment in South Africa.

Her passports were seized by the State after her arrest in 2019 on allegations of attempted murder of the vice president while he was admitted in a South African hospital and money laundering.

"I have been denied access to my children by my estranged husband, yes estranged, he is still my husband and I am still his wife," Mubaiwa said.

"[For] 14 months I have not seen my children that are aged 10, 9, and 7, neither have I spoken to them, he has been shuttling from one international hospital to another yet he has denied me the same opportunity."

Chiwenga, 64, and his wife are embroiled in messy divorce proceedings that have seen the two trading accusations of infidelity, poisoning, and impotence before family elders who tried and failed to reconcile them in the early stages.

"The idea of holding onto my children, my personal property like clothes, and the division of our assets is so that he can hold onto me. He does not believe in his own claims and allegations, knowing the fabrication of it all is much closer to home than the eye can see," Mubaiwa charged, adding, "Karma will locate him."

She roped in President Emmerson Mnangagwa, questioning whether he approved of his deputy's behavior.

"When abuse of power and authority, and the use of heavily armed military personnel are used to fight one defenseless wife with no skills or defense training of some sort, you wonder if the C.I.C [commander-in-chief] is agreeable to this," she wondered.

"My human right as a mother has been infringed upon, how can you have a justice system so careless to the extent of protecting a public officer to continue to commit a crime.

"I cannot fight him, I can never win, he has tools which my mind can only possess but bearing in mind that David had nothing… Daniel 2 vs 1-30. I miss my children so much it hurts," Mubaiwa concluded despairingly, yet so optimistically.

A High court judge panned Chiwenga last year for using the army to bar his wife from accessing their matrimonial home and children after her release from remand prison.

"It is unacceptable and anathema to the constitutional values of this jurisdiction that the military may be used to settle a matrimonial dispute," said Judge Christopher Dube-Banda.

"This is frightening. What happened to the applicant (Marry) must be a cause for fear and concern to all law-abiding citizens."

The judge ordered Chiwenga to return the children and some vehicles to his estranged wife "forthwith."