HARARE – Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s ex-wife Marry Mubaiwa’s right arm is to be amputated after failed surgery to save it.
Mubaiwa, 40, has been admitted to a Harare hospital in a life-threatening condition, his doctors told the Harare Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
She was due to appear in court for the continuation of her trial on allegations of assaulting their former child minder during her acrimonious separation with Chiwenga.
The former model was diagnosed with acute lymphoedema which has caused large open wounds on both forearms.
Her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa asked magistrate Lovemore Mapiye to postpone the trial, and if the prosecution insisted on proceeding she said she could bring her in an ambulance and the matter proceeds while she is on a stretcher in the car park outside.
The prosecution agreed to the postponement.
Said Mtetwa: “The doctors have come to a conclusion that they cannot save her arm and that when she is medically fit they will have to amputate the right arm.”
A diagnosis by Dr John Nyahunzvi which was shared with the court said Mubaiwa has “severe sepsis secondary to deep infection after revision surgery to fix a re-fracture of right humerus shaft against a background of chronic sepsis in her forearm.”
Dr Nyahunzvi recommended “careful in-patient clinical management of her current state… with a plan for emergent right high above elbow amputation as soon as she is deemed medically stable.”
The doctor said he current condition was “critical, life threatening.”
Mubaiwa’s lymphoedema has caused swelling on her lower limbs including legs and both hands. She also has puss-filled wounds which she previously told the court caused her great pain and sleepless nights.
Her doctors said she was using sedatives and pain stops to ease her pain.
Mubaiwa has already been tried on fraud allegations relating to a complaint by Chiwenga that she tried to upgrade their customary union to a civil marriage while he was sick in 2019. The matter is pending.
She also faces a string of other criminal charges including the attempted murder of her ex-husband in a South African hospital in July 2019.
She will also be prosecuted for money laundering and fraud.
The daughter of former Dynamos chairman Kenny Mubaiwa has failed in several attempts to get the court to approve a medical flight to South Africa for advanced treatment of her condition.
She accuses her powerful former army commander ex-husband of manipulating the police and the judiciary in an attempt to put her in jail to stop her fighting for the custody of their three young children. Mubaiwa says she has not seen the children in over two years.
