Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter
VICE President Constantino Chiwenga’s wife, Mrs Mary Chiwenga, has dismissed as false media reports that she grabbed a 300-hectare Arda Seeds Farm along Domboshawa Road. Through her lawyer, Mr Wilson Tatenda Manase of Manase & Manase Legal Practitioners, Mrs Chiwenga has described an article published by the Zimbabwe Independent on April 13 as defamatory and malicious.

The article was titled “Chiwenga’s wife grabs Arda farm”.
“This in all honesty, and according to our client, is not true at all,” reads the letter of demand. “No such event took place. That is both defamatory and malicious against the person of our client, to say the least.”

Mrs Chiwenga has demanded an apology on the front page of the weekly paper, failing which she will sue for damages.
“Without wanting to dignify what you say about the Vice President with a response, we call upon you to do the honourable thing by apologising to the public and stating that it is untrue that Mrs Mary Chiwenga seized the 300-hectare farm,” reads the letter.

“This never happened and the chief executive officer of Arda, Mr Basil Nyabadza, seems to confirm this fact in your article. While our client reserves the right to take action against yourselves, an apology on the same page the article was published will suffice.

“If, however, we do not hear from you within the next 14 days, we shall proceed to take action.”
The article written by Tinashe Kairiza, according to the lawyers, intimated that Mrs Chiwenga grabbed the farm.
“You went further to indicate that operations have come to a halt at the said farm and that certain Arda workers have relocated to Arda’s head office, including the Arda Seeds manager, Mr Amon Mwashaireni,” the letter reads.

The lawyers also dismissed statements in the newspaper article insinuating that VP Chiwenga had a number of farms.
“In the same article, an insinuation is made that our client’s husband owns a number of farms and that he has vast wealth,” they said. “This is not true whatsoever.”