• Emmerson Mnangagwa will be represented by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commissioner, Kudzai Shava’s parental-guardian, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Frederick Shava.

By Farai D Hove | The state owned Sunday Mail paper has confirmed a ZimEye expose that Emmerson Mnangagwa is not at all attending British Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

At the time government spokesperson Nick Mangwana was dismissing a fake letter purporting that Mnangagwa has been blocked for attending, ZimEye grilled the Perm Sec on why he is failing to further explain that Mnangagwa’s itinerary does not include London.

The state owned paper has since confirmed the ZimEye expose’ revealing that Mnangagwa is not at all flying in for the funeral. He will be represented by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commissioner, Kudzai Shava’s parental-guardian, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Frederick Shava.

Shava will represent Mnangagwa at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London next week, the paper reports.

Mnangagwa will not be able to attend.

Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba was quoted saying: “The Foreign Minister (Shava) is attending for the President, who is scheduled to leave for United Nations General Assembly on the day.”

Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, which is expected to be attended more than 192 Heads of State and Government from around the world, will take place at Westminster Abbey on Monday.

Meanwhile there are 9 commissioners on the electoral commission, 5 of whom are well known children of top ZANU PF members.

 Hon Mrs Justice Priscilla CHIGUMBA (Chairperson since 31st January 2028). She is the daughter in law of ZANU PF President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s business partner, Christopher Chigumba, and is also the girlfriend of Zimbabwe’s Minister of Mines Winston Chitando.

·      Mr Rodney KIWA (a Commissioner since November 2021 and Deputy Chairperson since March 2022).

·      Mr Jasper MANGWANA (a Commissioner since October 2021 and ZEC spokesperson since March 2022). He is the nephew of govt Spokesperson Ndabaningi Mangwana, and ZANU PF Legal Secretary Paul Mangwana.

The New Commissioners

In alphabetical order by surname, the new 6 Commissioners are:

Mrs Abigail Millicent Mohadi AMBROSE

She is from Matabeleland South and is an accountant by profession. She is the daughter of former Vice-President Kembo Mohadi.

Mr Kudzai SHAVA

He is a doctoral student, and an expert on disability matters, specialising in blind disability inclusion, and a researcher. He himself is visually impaired. He is the legal child of the Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava.

Ms Catherine MPOFU,

Catherine Mpofu’s family has officially told ZimEye that her parents are all ZANU PF members. Catherine is a language, communications specialist and peace practitioner. She holds eleven years’ experience working with the public, media and civic society from the legislative arm of the State.

Mr Shepherd MANHIVI

He is a registered legal practitioner, with an LL.B. (Hons) degree, and hold with two additional degrees B.Sc. (Hons) in Administration and an M.Sc. in International Relations, all from the University of Zimbabwe.

Mrs Rosewita MURUTARE

Commissioner Murutare is a social scientist with experience in community health, community research and gender equity. She has previously worked with ZichiRe [the Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Research Behavioural Change Programme, a project of the University of Zimbabwe, resident in the department of community medicine]. She holds an M.Sc. in Population Studies (UZ), B.Sc. in Geography and Environmental Studies (MSU) and a Diploma in Education from GTC.

Dr Janet Mbetu NZVENGA

She has a diploma in Education, a B.Sc. degree in psychology, a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology and a Ph.D. in Psychology. She is a currently a lecturer at Gweru Polytechnic.