ONE of President Robert Mugabe’s sons Chatunga, has divided opinions after sharing a video of himself living a lavish lifestyle.
The Mugabe progeny have been making headlines of late for their profligate lifestyle. The sons were “evicted” last month from a luxury Sandton apartment, according to Zimbabwe media, at The Regent apartment hotel in Morningside after supposed unacceptable behaviour in a “dispute over women”.
They had a brawl that allegedly left a security guard with a broken arm and leg. First Lady Grace Mugabe apparently had to fly to Johannesburg to find another home for the young men.
In this latest video, a drinking and smoking Chatunga boasts about how he is a regular clubber and doesn’t eat Zimbabwean food such as sadza. He’s in a room with his friends, and appears alongside a woman who isn’t identified. She seems to have an American accent, however.
He and his friends seem to be drinking Ace of Spaces champagne, which sells for between R5000 and R7000 a bottle.
According to News24, the camouflage sweater he wears in the video has been banned in Zimbabwe by Mugabe – the world’s oldest surviving leader, at 93.
Chatanga advised people to “live your life and have fun”, among other pearls of wisdom.
Most Zimbabweans have been struggling with crushing poverty that has caused a large percentage of the population to leave for other countries, particularly South Africa, as economic refugees.
Chatunga Bellarmine’s brother Robert Junior is apparently a student at the University of Johannesburg, and the brothers are chauffeured around in luxury limousines, according to the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper.
The same paper had earlier reported they were relocated to South Africa after “security concerns” about their safety. The two could be targeted “not just for crime, but also for political reasons”.
Grace at the time was quoted as saying: “Imagine it has got to a stage where they want to kill my son Bellarmine”.
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNWLVA) secretary-general, Victor Matemadanda has debuted a T-shirt imploring First Lady Grace Mugabe to deal with her children first before lecturing the nation on issues, a testy turn to the Zanu PF succession issue.
Matemadanda told a Press conference midweek that he received the T-shirt disparaging Grace from someone in South Africa and decided to wear it because the message resonated with what he believed in.
“Control your children first,” reads the T-shirt.
“Say war vets: Grace a failed mum, her sons unruly rogues. Failing with only two boys, can’t mother 14 million.”
Matemadanda said: “I was given that T-shirt by someone, who came from South Africa and when I looked at it I liked it.
“The message is resonating with what people believe in, it’s the voice of millions of Zimbabweans at home and abroad, I have seen these T-shirts even in the UK.”
Grace’s sons are reportedly living a life dominated by wild parties, which has seen them kicked out of a fancy apartment in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa.
The two reportedly quit Dubai in unclear circumstances.
There is no love lost between Grace and the war veterans, who accuse her of furthering the agenda of G40, a faction in Zanu PF said to be opposed to Vice-President Emmerson Mnanagagwa succeeding President Robert Mugabe.
The war veterans want Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe.
Matemandanda claimed he had received a tip-off that some people had been sent to hunt him down over his attacks on the First Family, but said he was unfazed.
“I hear there are some who are saying I should be hunted down and be killed for what I have said, which has now been reduced to trending T-shirts.
“I am not afraid because this is not the first time I have been hunted. During the liberation war, we lived with this, some were killed, but that did not dampen the spirit of the war,” he said.
“Killing Matemadanda is not the solution because someone will just pick up from there, they should address the problem and not the person.
“If they kill me, they would have ignited the spirit of the revolution and make me a martyr.”
War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube said Matematanda’s sentiments against Mugabe and his wife were not the war veterans’ collective position.
He dismissed the war veterans’ Press conference held in Harare on Wednesday, saying those views were personal and did not represent the views of all the former fighters.
“Those were personal views expressed by people who have their own agenda and it’s not the position of all war veterans, the leadership of ZNLWVA is not the entire war veterans,” he said.
Dube said while the ZNLWVA leadership had gone rogue attacking their patron and his family, his ministry continued to recognise them as the legitimate leaders of the association.
“Outside a congress, which chooses a new leadership, it is not our place in the ministry to change the leadership of the association,” he said.
