Zimbabwe’s high profile divorce sheds light on Mugabe wealth

Harare: The divorce of the daughter of Zimbabwe’s late ruler Robert Mugabe has lifted the lid on the massive wealth amassed by the ex-president’s family, with court papers listing properties worth almost $80 million.

Bona Mugabe, 33, filed for divorce from her husband of nine years, Simbarashe Mutsahuni (also called Chikore), a former airline pilot, earlier this year.

In court papers seen by AFP, Chikore lists numerous assets owned solely by Mugabe or jointly by the couple including dozens of residential properties, farms, luxury cars and almost $1 million in cash.

Chikore is opposing the divorce but asks that if it is granted, he should be allowed joint custody of the couple’s three children and part of the assets the pair jointly acquired.

The variety and value of the assets listed in the counterclaim is likely to upset many Zimbabweans, as the country struggles with entrenched poverty, chronic power cuts and extreme inflation.

On the list are 21 farms and more than 25 residential properties in upmarket Harare suburbs, including one valued at $40 million.

Chikore also lists numerous cars, including an $800,000 Rolls Royce and three Range Rovers.

Mugabe also holds “substantial cash in foreign currency” and removed “cash in the sum of $760,000 in a bag” from the couple’s residence, according to the papers.

Mugabe’s father, who ruled Zimbabwe from the country’s independence from British colonial rule in 1980 until being ousted in November 2017, died in 2019 in Singapore aged 95.

During his presidency, Mugabe, who styled himself as a left-wing radical, was reported to own several farms that were seized during his controversial land reforms but the exact extent of the family’s wealth remains unclear.

Details of his estate released in 2019 showed he left behind $10 million, 10 cars, a farm and two houses.