HARARE – A police complaint about a woman threatening to release her ex-boyfriend’s nudes ended with a minister fighting adultery allegations.
Daniel Kalira, an employee of a large telecoms firm, lost his rag when his “wife” Tariro Shangu – a law officer at the ministry of justice – allegedly threatened to use the minister to make the charges go away.
Kalira picked up the phone and called Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, charging that he was having an affair with his “wife”. In an angry exchange lasting almost three minutes, Ziyambi denied an affair with Shangu while repeatedly calling his accuser an “idiot”.
The leaked audio of the phone exchange was later posted online, Kalira now says by Ziyambi’s estranged wife Florence Ziyambi, who he had approached for advice – unaware Ziyambi had initiated divorce proceedings.
It had all the makings of a beautiful political scandal – but Kalira, the fire starter, is now backpedalling furiously, blaming a “cunning” Shangu for “dragging Ziyambi into the matter”, and Ziyambi’s wife for leaning on him to make the adultery claims – he says to exert revenge over their acrimonious divorce. She is yet to respond to the divorce summons.
It all kicked off when Kalira walked into a police station on September 1 to report that his “wife” Shangu had sent abusive e-mails and text messages to his workplace.
He also accused her of posting defamatory messages on Facebook, in which she accused him of womanising and conning her out of US$800. This, he says, came after she threatened to “make him trend”.
Shangu was hauled in by the police and a statement recorded. Police said they intend to charge her under section 88 of the Postal and Telecommunications Act which penalises “sending by telephone any message that is grossly offensive or is of an indecent, obscene or threatening character” or sending any message that one “knows to be false for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any other person.” The crime carries a potential prison sentence of six months.
The bitter dispute between the pair – being investigated under case IR-041613 at Harare Central Police – has dragged in Ziyambi and his estranged wife into a vortex of media intrigue.
A freshly-leaked audio conversation between Kalira and his uncle – a church minister at a Harare church – suggests the former had a bitter fallout with Shangu, a woman he called his “wife”, although they were never married. Kalira says it was Shangu who got into the habit of referring to him as her “husband” after living together for two years.
“It’s Tariro who is dragging the minister into this. That woman is very cunning. That’s the reason why I wanted to meet the minister in the first place and demonstrate to him the kind of person she is,” Kalira tells his uncle on the audio.
In a less hostile phone call with Ziyambi, also leaked online, Kalira tells the Zanu PF Mashonaland West chairman that his ex-wife got involved – even making arrangements with journalists to interview him.
“She said let’s publish this, let’s tell the journalists to say ‘ABCD’ and I said it’s not right, we cannot do that,” Kalira says.
“When the divorce proceedings were reported in the paper, she said we need a counter move so that it would appear like there is a story behind (infidelity by Ziyambi). She wants to use this matter as a leverage to achieve what she wants.”
Ziyambi is divorcing his wife of 27 years, and he says in court papers that they have not lived together for six years.
Both Florence Ziyambi and Kalira had not responded to our questions at the time of publication.
Shangu told an online publication that she had never been married to Kalira, while also denying an affair with Ziyambi.
“There is no customary marriage, or marriage certificate you will find. I have never been married so there is no adultery to talk about in the first place,” she told ZimLive by phone.
“Secondly, I only know the minister as my boss. We are not lovers and I’m very sorry that he has been dragged into this because he doesn’t deserve all this.”
Shangu also denied making threats to release Kalira’s “nudes” to his workmates and friends.
“I’m confused as to my charge and allegations because they are so many right now,” she said. “It seems everyday there are new allegations and I have decided to wait for justice to take its course.”
Ziyambi said he had no capacity to make the charges disappear, and told Kalira in their second conversation that she was best advised not to roll her dice by allowing the matter to spill into court.
“The adultery claims were a complete fabrication, and that’s why I was so angry when that man called me,” Ziyambi told ZimLive. “People should resolve their disputes without dragging me and many other innocent people into their matters.”
As the “scandal” raged, Ziyambi accused his ex-wife of calling Shangu’s mother in a remote rural village to accuse her daughter of coming between her and her husband.
