One of Zimbabwe’s vice presidents has resigned following a string of reports in the local media that alleged he had affairs with several women, both married and single.
Kembo Mohadi, 71, one of the country’s two vice presidents, denied on Monday that he was involved in the alleged affairs but said he was stepping down “to save the image of my government.” Both Zimbabwe’s vice presidents are single after divorces.
In a rare move by a public official in Zimbabwe, Mohadi said he had taken the decision to step down “not as a matter of cowardice but as a sign of demonstrating great respect to the office of the President”.
“I have been going through a soul-searching pilgrimage and realized that I need the space to deal with my problem outside the governance chair,” he said in a statement released by the Ministry of Information.
His alleged affairs include one with a married intelligence officer. Local online media provided recordings of phone calls in which a man sounding like Mohadi propositioned several other women and spoke of drinking concoctions to enhance sexual performance.
In another recorded call, the man is heard arranging to meet another married woman for sex in his office. In a different call, the man asks another woman to have his baby, which she refused.
Mohadi, a veteran of the country’s 1970s bush war for independence from white minority rule, has been a prominent member of the government for decades. He denied he is the man in the recorded phone calls.
He thanked President Mnangagwa for the “opportunity to serve under him for the past three years.
“My resignation is also necessitated by my desire to seek clarity and justice on the matter in which my legal team will pursue and deconstruct this pseudo paparazzi and flawed espionage to achieve cheap political points.
“I promise to poke holes in this grand strategy by political foes,” the statement added.
