Who Really Is This Mystrious Woman Linked To Tsvangirai

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai may have misled the country over a mysterious woman who accompanied him to Jacob Zuma’s inauguration, it was claimed last night.

In May, the Prime Minister’s spokesman James Maridadi identified the bespectacled middle-aged woman as his niece – a Zimbabwean medical doctor based in the United States named Dr Arikana Chiyedzo Chihombori.

But doubt was cast over the truthfulness of that statement after a commercial farmers’ union campaign group claimed the Prime Minister had DENIED the relationship in a conversation with United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee.

The fresh controversy over the woman erupted after a white commercial farmer in Chegutu claimed Chihombori had tried to seize his farm. The farmer, named by the ZWNEWS.COM website as L. J. Cremer, claims Chihombori has been “actively trying to seize De Rus Farm since late last year”.

John Worsely Worswick, a spokesman for the farmers’ campaign group Justice for Agriculture (JAG) told SW Radio Africa last night that the farmer had approached the American embassy after getting the visitor “with an American accent looking to take over their property”.

Worswick said: “The feedback that came to the Cremers (from the US embassy) was to the effect that this was the same woman who attended the inauguration with Tsvangirai, and that the ambassador had taken Tsvangirai to task about who this woman was, and that he had denied any knowledge of her. Now that is very alarming.-Advertisement-





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The controversy was threatening to overshadow the Prime Minister’s visit to Europe and the United States where he is seeking financial aid for his cash-strapped government and the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Western countries insist they want to see more reforms, and have stressed on the cessation of farm invasions, which the Prime Minister recently said had been “blown out of proportion”.

There were signs Tsvangirai was moving to contain the developing crisis on Tuesday after he instructed Chihombori to “walk away from that farm”, according to Maridadi.

Chihombori was expected to issue a press statement later on Tuesday under pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office.

And Maridadi insisted Tsvangirai had NOT misled the country. He also denied knowledge of the conversation between the US ambassador and the Prime Minister which JAG alleges took place.

“Dr Chihombori is the Prime Minister’s niece, that’s the truth,” Maridadi said by telephone from Washington DC where the Prime Minister is preparing to meet US President Barack Obama.

Chihombori’s appearance alongside widower Tsvangirai in South Africa on May 9 sparked frenzied speculation on the internet, forcing his Office to issue a statement.

"Dr Chihombori was invited separately to the Zuma inauguration, but she arrived at the same time as the Prime Minister," Maridadi said at the time.
NewZimbabwe.com