Harare, Zimbabwe – A Zimbabwean magistrate has ordered the immediate release of Marry Mubaiwa, former spouse of the country’s Vice-President General Constantino Chiwenga, bringing an end to seven years of pre-trial custody as she faced allegations of attempting to murder the senior state figure. The landmark ruling was delivered on Tuesday at a Harare court, moments after state prosecutors filed a formal request to push the ongoing trial back by 30 days to allow additional time to coordinate and secure testimony from key witnesses. Citing official reports from Zimbabwe’s state-run daily publication The Herald, the magistrate emphasized that Mubaiwa had endured severe, sustained harm across mental, physical and financial spheres during the prolonged, drawn-out remand period, with the extended pre-trial detention inflicting irreversible prejudice on her legal rights. Mubaiwa, who was initially arrested and formally charged in 2019, stood accused of deliberately obstructing Chiwenga’s access to critical medical care while he was receiving treatment at a Pretoria, South Africa, hospital – actions that prosecutors framed as a deliberate attempt to end the vice-president’s life. Following the alleged incident, Chiwenga departed for a four-month extended medical treatment program in China. From the moment of her 2019 arrest, Mubaiwa had been consistently denied bail and held in continuous pre-trial custody, a situation her legal team repeatedly condemned as a violation of basic procedural justice. In remarks delivered to assembled reporters immediately outside the Harare courthouse, Mubaiwa’s lead counsel characterized the release ruling as a bittersweet legal victory that arrived far too late, noting that their client had already suffered years of unwarranted deprivation that no subsequent legal process could fully remedy. The lawyer confirmed that the defense team would address any potential state application to launch a new trial only if and when such a motion is officially submitted to the court. Footage and on-site reports from independent Zimbabwean news outlet New Zimbabwe captured Mubaiwa openly celebrating her long-awaited release outside the courthouse, where she told reporters that true justice had finally prevailed and extended public praise to her legal representation for their years of advocacy on her behalf. The high-profile legal case is tied to one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent political figures: General Constantino Chiwenga rose to national prominence as a central architect of the 2017 military and political intervention that ended Robert Mugabe’s 37-year long tenure as the nation’s president, cementing his position as one of the most powerful figures in the southern African nation’s ruling political establishment.
Ex-wife of Zimbabwe’s vice-president freed after collapse of attempted murder case
