By A Correspondent | ZimEye | Emmerson Mnangagwa and his just awarded hospitality-degree-holder wife, Auxillia is since 2021 assembling their own army of armed robbers to ward off [Vice President] Constantino Chiwenga’s military, this investigation reveals.
This is a developing security nexus showing the warring powers between the president and his deputy, and Mnangagwa’s wife emerges as a third figure with powers like no other govt official has ever possessed in history.
Auxillia is asked over the reasons why she used soldiers, CIOs, and riot police in 2021 to unleash them on her own family and impose an armed robber, who’s her brother over the Negomo chieftainship.
“As you know clearly, this is a crime under Zimbabwean law,” she is asked by Simba Chikanza.
Auxillia replies Chikanza saying she did not do this at all and that she never took soldiers to Chief Negomo’s kingdom in Chiweshe to install her convicted armed robber brother, and that even on the later day of inauguration she did not even participate, she was just sat at the back row.
“No, no no, I don’t fight anyone. I actually expect you to call me when there is something that you need. You used to phone me over the Negomo stories. And I didn’t even go with those soldiers; I never didnt even; I was actually sitting at the back row, and I didn’t even participate,” she says.
Her denial is at a time when footage from both events which include State Media video show an opposite story: she is actually sitting at the front row, and she is even addressing the crowd holding a microphone. Other footage show her on the earlier day when she arrived with soldiers to take over the kingdom, and interviews with her relatives present there all the more confirm the incidents are not as the First Lady claim them to be.
The Background: A Questionable Appointment
Paradzai Kutyauripo, who is already serving as Director of State Residences, has a criminal history that includes a four-year stint in Chikurubi Maximum Prison for armed robbery. His early release came via a presidential amnesty signed by Emmerson Mnangagwa when he was Justice Minister. Now, he has been installed as Chief Negomo despite his family’s lack of entitlement to the position.
In a striking revelation, Chikanza highlights the potential national security risks associated with Kutyauripo’s dual roles:
“Is the nation safe? This is just one armed robber. What about his large network of accomplices, partners in crime? Now, he takes over the post of Chief Negomo. He also has another post that Emmerson Mnangagwa has given him—Director of all State Residences across the country. What does this mean? Any armed robber in the future who is running away from the police will simply seek refuge inside the State House, and that will be the end of any investigation.”
On the day of the takeover, Auxillia Mnangagwa drove a military motorcade to the area, with soldiers and police intimidating community members and family heads.
Chief Negomo’s wife was captured on camera crying out that Auxillia’s entourage is attempting to seize her personal belongings.
“She [Auxillia] is out of her depth on what is happening,” said a source close to the family. “She declared to everyone, ‘If you all don’t want this to happen, I will take the pin myself and wear it.’”
But in response, she talks on for 35 min assuring the country that this isn’t the case.
A Larger Pattern of Abuse
Concerns about governance under the Mnangagwa administration:
Emmerson Mnangagwa is assembling his own army of armed robbers to ward off [Vice President] Constantino Chiwenga’s military. Who is the most powerful between the two? At present, these questions are answered in the larger section of this investigation.
ZimEye investigates-