Mutasa suspected of having an affair with diesel n’anga

By Henry Makiwa
16 November 2007

The sensational saga of the fake spirit medium who fooled the entire Mugabe regime into believing that she could extract refined diesel fuel from a rock has taken a new twist. On Thursday Robert Mugabe issued a long rant at the “devious n’anga” Nomatter Tagarira, and publicly accused one of his officials of being attracted to the self-proclaimed spirit medium.

Newsreel’s investigations today revealed that many of those close to Mugabe believe that National Security Minister Didymus Mutasa is the unnamed official Mugabe suspects had an affair with Togarira. Addressing guests at the commissioning of a new bio-diesel plant at Mount Hampden, Mugabe admitted that his government had been duped by Tagarira, charging that he will make sure that she “pays up.”

He said: “I dispatched up to three ministers to her home after gathering information about her work. When I asked them to report to me about the spirit medium, some said she appeared too young, and others even said she is beautiful.

“That’s when I decided to kill off the story,” Mugabe said.

Revelations that Tagarira in her Muningwa hills sanctuary hosted Mutasa for a month, have led to widespread suspicions that he may have had an affair with her.

Mutasa is understood to be under fire from Mugabe after Tagarira’s male spiritual aide told the press that the security minister had attempted to put a curse on Mugabe. The man, Jeremiah Mambo Jenami says Mutasa wanted to eliminate Mugabe to become president himself. Jenami now claims Mutasa’s henchmen are after his life for divulging the information.

The Standard newspaper’s news editor Walter Marwizi, who has been following the story, says the whole saga demonstrates government’s desperation at solving economic crisis.

“Mugabe is clearly lost for ideas on how to solve his mess,” he said. “They (ZANU-PF) bowed to her demands of two beasts and three buffaloes purportedly required by the spirit possessing and guiding her. In addition they gave her land, cash and a farmhouse. To imagine that the taxpayer lost over Z$5 billion to this prankster is just sad.”

Marwizi added, “Instead of focusing on real issues Mugabe is searching for answers in a lost world.”

Zimbabwe is grappling with a severe economic crisis characterised by shortages of basic commodities and fuel. It is under these circumstances that Tagarira hatched her scheme.

Tagarira, whose aliases include Rotina Mavhunga and Changamire Dombo, pulled a major scam on Mugabe’s regime earlier this year. The self-styled spirit medium claimed that she could conjure refined diesel out of a rock by striking it with her staff in the same way the biblical Moses did while drawing out water for the children of Israel in the wilderness during their exodus from Egypt.

Even though Tagarira is locked up in custody awaiting trial on charges of criminal nuisance, Mugabe on Thursday inferred that she is guilty and should be punished. This may put judges under pressure to find her guilty.