Cape Town - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
has vowed to go ahead with his planned wedding this weekend despite
attempts by two women, one of them South African, to stop him from tying
the knot.
Nosipho Regina Shilubane, a South African woman, lodged a legal challenge to try to block the premier's wedding, a day after the High Court threw out an application by another former lover, Locardia Karimatsenga, to halt the ceremony.
In
papers filed at a magistrate's court, Shilubane said she was engaged to
Tsvangirai after being introduced to him by her church pastor at a
hotel in South Africa in September 2009.
But in a statement,
Tsvangirai's spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka dismissed the claims as a
smear campaign against the prime minister.
"Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
has faced two interdicts to stop his wedding in what is clearly a
well-choreographed move replete with malice and vindictiveness.
"It
is evident these are not normal claims, but nevertheless, the prime
minister's lawyers have opposed them, including another one curiously
lodged soon after Ms Lorcadia Karimatsenga had had her application
dismissed by the High Court," read the statement.
The statement
said some of the claims were "part of a grand political scheme to
besmirch, to malign and to soil the image of the prime minister for
political gain".
Tsvangirai's private life has come under
scrutiny since the death of his wife Susan in a car crash in 2009, with
local media revelling in stories of his relationships with numerous
women.
He is set to tie the knot with businesswoman Elizabeth
Macheka at the scenic and exclusive RainTree Gardens in Umwinsdale,
Harare.
- News24