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Tendai Mugabe, Harare Bureau
Under fire Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Cde Dickson Mafios is in the middle of an adultery storm after it emerged that he snatched a Salvation Army pastor’s wife in an illicit affair that has become the talk of the province.

The wife, Eddies Musiiwa from Madziwa, was married to Pastor Wisdom Vhanga, but is now nicknamed the “First Lady” of Mashonaland Central after she was lured by Cde Mafios.

Pastor Vhanga and Ms Musiiwa were married for 14 years before Cde Mafios used his political and financial muscle to wreck the man of God’s marriage.

Information at hand shows that Cde Mafios and Ms Musiiwa exchanged phone numbers at the funeral of Cde Mafios’ mother, after which they started to communicate behind Pastor Vhanga’s back.

Pastor Vhanga, who is now ministering in the Mupfure area near Madziwa, confirmed the story on Thursday last week, but refused to say much, saying his church does not allow him to talk to the media.

He said the incident, which he described as “emotional”, disturbed his life to the core and he would never forget it.

“It’s a true story,” said Pastor Vhanga. “It caused a lot of problems in my life, but my church does not allow me to talk to the press. What I can only say is that it was an emotional moment that disturbed my life.”

A senior member of the Salvation Army based in Mt Darwin Major Netsai Matura refused to comment on the matter.

The story is the topic among many people around Madziwa area who roundly denounced Cde Mafios’ adulterous behaviour.

Information gathered by our Harare Bureau showed that when Ms Musiiwa got married to Cde Mafios, she became the third wife as the politician already had two other wives.

Unfortunately, the first two wives died almost the same week, leaving Ms Musiiwa as the only official wife to Cde Mafios.

A Zanu-PF district member in Mashonaland Central Cde Vincent Chiruka narrated how Pastor Vhanga lost his wife to Cde Mafios.

“From what we know, the wife who is staying with (Cde) Mafios right now was snatched from Pastor Vhanga,” he said. “They had been married for 14 years and they had their wedding in the church and I also attended that wedding.

“Pastor Vhanga and Ms Musiiwa had one child called Makanaka. After the wife was taken, Pastor Vhanga was forced to sign divorce papers by Cde Mafios who was accompanied by some bouncers at Madziwa Shopping Centre.

“Now, he is moving around with that wife attending party functions and she is actually referred to as the ‘First Lady’ of the province. As a leader of the party, we don’t expect such behaviour.

“We could not say anything at the time because they (Cde Mafios and company) would say they were the ones in charge and we could not do anything to them.”

A Madziwa resident who refused to be named said: “We are so ashamed by what Cde Mafios did to Pastor Vhanga. We want to believe that all the political woes that he is now facing are part of revenge from God for his evil doings.

“He ruined a young and promising couple simply because he wields political power.

“After snatching the wife, he took her to Harare where he paid rentals for her before relocating her to Bindura,” said the resident.

Cde Mafios could not be reached for comment.