'Learnmore Jongwe was a violent man'

THE MDC leadership pressured the late Rutendo Muusha into wedding former party spokesperson Learnmore Jongwe who later ended her life during a domestic dispute in 2002, the woman's former classmate has revealed.

Jongwe, then 28, was arrested in July 2002 after stabbing Rutendo, then 23, and a final year Law student at the University of Zimbabwe during a domestic row.

The MDC official, after stabbing his wife whom he accused of infidelity, initially tried to commit suicide before handing himself to the police.

His lawyers said Jongwe, who was in October of that year found dead in his prison cell at the Chikurubi maximum Prison in what police said was a case of suicide, admitted stabbing his wife but denied intent to kill her.

The case attracted wide coverage with the private media in defence of Jongwe publishing Rutendo's alleged affairs and even suggesting that she was a Central Intelligence Organisation undercover agent.

Both the private media and the MDC concocted conspiracy theories suggesting that there was a hidden hand behind Jongwe's suicide and indirectly accused the State of murdering the activist.

Thirteen years later, United Kingdom-based lawyer Brighton Mutebuka, who was classmate with Rutendo, says Jongwe was not only possessive but of violent disposition.

In an article titled, "Revisiting the Learmore Jongwe tragedy: Hero or Villain and the inconvenient truth," Mutebuka said they had heard of stories of violence that their classmate had been subjected to at the hands of Jongwe.

In a Facebook post, Mutebuka also claimed that at one time, Jongwe threw Rutendo out of a moving vehicle.

"I will not say anything specific at this point, but I will say that before her death shortly before we graduated in July 2002, there had been several other very serious, violent episodes perpetrated on Rutendo with very specific, horrendous, visible injuries," writes Mutebuka who claims to have been there when the couple first met at the UZ.

"There were also specific threats made on her life — including references to the use of a knife for that purpose. In addition to this, we are also aware that she had initially declined to participate in the marriage ceremony which eventually took place at the UZ's Great Hall — and that this only eventually proceeded after very desperate, protracted and delicate intervention efforts by very senior people in the MDC."

Mutebuka, who claims to have been close to Jongwe to the point of calling each other "kule", writes that Rutendo and Jongwe came from different backgrounds which he attributes as the cause of their problems.

"What is clear to me is that "Kule" and Rutendo were incompatible to a very high degree. There are lessons to be learnt by many people venturing into relationships or marriage.

"The latter was in my view beguiled by his stature while the former was enchanted by her beauty. They both allowed themselves to be "clouded" in their judgment and persisted with what was a doomed relationship right from the word go," writes Mutebuka.

He says the politicisation of the story shifted attention from the real facts of the matter and as a result, "barbaric domestic violence became a national political tragedy."

"From the outside, Jongwe had everything going for him, a brilliant legal career, reaching the apex of politics at a young age, and an equally beautiful young wife and daughter. Yet beneath that facade, there was a dark sense of insecurity and paranoia arising from having married a woman with values that clashed with his own — which he was ultimately unable or unwilling to reconcile with," writes Mutebuka.

He said he lost respect for Jongwe when he tried to justify killing his wife by claiming that he had found her having sex with another man.

"It is regrettable that in the end, to 'rescue' his 'honour' and provide a credible narrative to justify his actions to a shell-shocked nation, Jongwe chose to spin a most inaccurate tale concerning how he had come to commit the dastardly act.

"This is where I lost all respect for him, even accounting for desperation arising from the instinct for self-preservation, as his actions meant that an innocent young woman had lost her life — and he had fled from the scene leaving her hapless, helpless and virtually prostrated," writes Mutebuka.

"He was showing no sense of remorse or contrition or assuming responsibility. His narrative meant that her dignity was impaired before the whole nation, and by association that of their daughter.

"The consequences of this contrived narrative tormented her parents, other relatives and friends and denied them closure and healing and, he selfishly impaired the dignity of a fellow innocent colleague in the profession by falsely accusing him of committing adultery with his wife."

Mutebuka's claims are corroborated by Rutendo's brother who was quoted in the media in 2013 saying Jongwe was an "unfaithful husband who regularly assaulted his wife and was a well-known kerb-crawler in the city."