Chombo abusing office to settle personal scores, says ex-wife

HOME Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo's ex-wife, Marian, has accused her former husband of abusing his office to block meetings organised by the opposition Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) in Mashonaland West province, just to frustrate her and settle personal scores.

Besides being minister in charge of police, Chombo is Zanu-PF national secretary for administration, while Marian is ZimPF Mashonaland West provincial chairperson.

The couple had a nasty divorce a few years ago, exposing Chombo's mega riches.

Marian told NewsDay at the weekend that Chombo caused the cancellation of her ZimPF meeting in Chinhoyi last week by
police "just to settle scores with me".

The last-minute cancellation of the meeting, which was later reversed by a High Court order, came barely a month after ZimpF leader, Joice Mujuru had her Chinhoyi church meeting blocked under similar circumstances.

Chombo's ex-wife said police's claims that they did not have enough personnel to provide security at the meeting were suspicious.

"I think they just want to frustrate me, bearing in mind that the provincial chairperson used to be the wife of Home Affairs minister. Secondly, this is the home town of the President (Robert Mugabe), so they make sure that we don't hold any such kind of meetings. This is a deliberate ploy to frustrate us," she said.

Chombo could not be reached for comment yesterday, as calls made to his mobile phone went to voicemail.

After police last Friday barred the ZimPF meeting scheduled to take place at St Peter's Pastoral Centre, Marian, through her lawyer, Gift Nyandoro, filed an urgent High Court application challenging the police decision.

The court granted the order sought, but ordered that the meeting be held at Chinhoyi Motor Cross instead.