Four members of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s extended family have avoided prison after pleading guilty to drug-related offences in separate cases in Bulawayo and Harare.
The cases involved Kelsea Tafirenyika, the wife of Mnangagwa’s son Collins, and three of her relatives: her mother, Amina Jassinta Jessub Arab; her sister, Dyonne Tanaka Tafirenyika; and her aunt, Noreen Jessub.
According to ZimLive, the three relatives changed their pleas to guilty on 2 November, days before their scheduled trial. Arab was fined US$200, Jessub US$250 and Dyonne US$300. Each fine carried a short prison term in default of payment.
What police said they found
The three women were arrested at a lodge in Bulawayo’s Ilanda suburb on 19 August. The State alleged that police recovered cocaine from Arab’s and Jessub’s rooms, and cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and US$53,055 in cash from Dyonne’s room.
A previous report by the Centre for Innovation and Technology said the women had been due to stand trial on 5 and 6 November, with the allegations still to be tested in court at that time. The later guilty pleas brought those proceedings to an end.
Kelsea’s separate Harare case
Tafirenyika had already pleaded guilty in Harare on 8 October to unauthorised possession of prescription medicines, after being found with pethidine and morphine sulphate at a Greystone Park house on 4 August.
She was fined US$300 on that count and a further US$100 after admitting possession of five cannabis rolls. Prosecutors dropped a separate money-laundering charge involving nearly US$9.3 million, saying they did not have enough evidence to secure a conviction.
The outcomes close several drug-related cases involving relatives of the President’s family. The sentences were fines, with prison terms applying only if the defendants fail to pay.