(Last Updated on October 14, 2012 by TAPIWA MAGUJI)
ZIMBABWE – The Commander of the 40,000 strong Zimbabwe Defence Forces, General Constantine Chiwenga is terrified of his estranged wife Jocelyn who regularly beat him up, according to court papers filed with the High Court.
The media in Zimbabwe has been gagged by a High Court Judge from revealing any proceedings from this high profile divorce case. In May Judge Chinembiri Bhunu barred journalists from reporting on the lawsuit, in which Jocelyn is suing the ZDF commander for $40-million.
In granting an order sought by Chiwenga’s new wife Mary Mubaiwa, the Judge ruled that only witnesses, Mubaiwa and Jocelyn’s lawyers, would be allowed in court to follow proceedings.
SW Radio Africa can however reveal that Chiwenga, in filing for divorce from Jocelyn, said that he fled the family home after he was routinely beaten by her.
At one point, according to the divorce papers, the highly aggressive Jocelyn arrived at his office at the army HQ and demanded $300,000. When told he did not have the money, Jocelyn went ballistic and destroyed furniture in the General’s office, in the presence of his subordinates.
Embarrassed, Chiwenga ordered his driver to take him their Borrowdale Brooke home ‘feeling sick.’ When he got home, he phoned his physician, Dr Paul Chimedza. When Chimedza examined Chiwenga he administered some sleeping medication and as he was beginning to feel drowsy, it is alleged Jocelyn burst in shouting at the top of her voice.
Chiwenga’s lawyers explained what transpired thereafter in their court application: ‘She jumped into General Chiwenga’s bed and beat him up on his face with clenched fists. As he was sedated, he could not defend himself.
‘Dr Chimedza pulled Jocelyn away from General Chiwenga and pleaded with her that he was genuinely ill and she should not continue assaulting him. When Dr Chimedza thought he had calmed Jocelyn down, she then pushed General Chiwenga off the bed. He fell to the floor and hit his head against the step of the platform on which the bed rests.
‘As a result of the fall he injured the right side of his head. General Chiwenga was bruised and swollen from assaults. Owing to sedation, he was helpless.’
When the army chief picked himself up and sat on the bed, Jocelyn charged at him again threatening to kill him with a spear and axe. This is when Dr Chimedza called Chiwenga’s personal staff officer, Colonel Michael Chaminuka, who arrived and took his boss to another of the army chief’s properties in Greystone Park.
The General, who is now married to Shingi Kawondera’s former wife Mary Mubaiwa, said his marriage to Jocelyn had irretrievably broken down because Jocelyn was is very temperamental and believed strongly in her own ways. He said no amount of counseling would restore the lost love.
Jocelyn, who is notorious for public violence, in 2009 launched a violent attack on a journalist and hurled insults at then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai at a busy Harare supermarket. Flanked by bodyguards Jocelyn shouted at Tsvangirai; ‘I want to take away your manhood today.
She proceeded to slap photographer Tsvangirai Mukwazhi who was covering the MDC leader’s tour of the complex.
In April 2002 she reportedly showed up at a farm outside Harare with an armed gang and ordered the farm’s white owner to turn over his property to her or be killed. She reportedly warned the farmer: ‘I have not tasted white blood for 20 years.’
In 2003 Jocelyn confronted Gugulethyu Moyo, a lawyer representing the Daily News, and beat her so severely that she had to seek medical attention. She yelled at the lawyer; ‘Your paper wants to encourage anarchy in this country.’ – SWRADIO AFRICA