By Desire Tshuma
BULAWAYO – Three women linked to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son Collins Mnangagwa were on Thursday denied bail and sent back to custody, as a Bulawayo magistrate said the case against them was too serious to allow freedom.
Amina Jassinta Jessub Arab, 47, the mother of Collins’s second wife Kelsea Tadiwa Tafirenyika, her daughter Dyonne Tanaka Tafirenyika, 28, and their relative Noreen Jessub appeared before Bulawayo Magistrate Taurai Manuwere. The court remanded them to September 3 after postponing its decision on bail.
The trio was arrested on Wednesday at a lodge in Bulawayo’s Ilanda suburb. Prosecutors allege that when police searched their rooms they found drugs and cash. In one room, officers said they recovered sachets of cocaine hidden in a shoe. In another, more cocaine was allegedly found concealed in a small bag. In Dyonne Tafirenyika’s room, police said they found crystal meth, cocaine and more than US$53,000 in cash.
The State strongly opposed bail. Investigating officer Phillimon Gumberu told the court there was overwhelming evidence against the three women and that they posed a flight risk. He told the magistrate the large amount of money found with Tafirenyika was proceeds of crime and that she had failed to account for it. The prosecution also argued that the family appeared to be involved in a criminal enterprise and was likely to run away before trial.
Their lawyer, Brezhnev Mathonsi, pleaded with the court to grant bail. He said the state already had all their passports and that there were no witnesses left to interfere with, since all evidence had been gathered at the scene of arrest.
The Bulawayo case is part of a much wider and painful saga engulfing Collins Mnangagwa’s household. Just days earlier, police reportedly stopped Arab and her daughter from boarding a private jet bound for Dubai at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport. The aircraft was held overnight and only left the next morning without them. Sources said the grounding happened as investigators widened a money-laundering inquiry linked to properties and vehicles allegedly bought with funds belonging to Collins.
Arab was first detained in Harare on August 13 when police seized a Toyota Land Cruiser from her over suspected money laundering. She later alleged she was assaulted while in custody, with photographs of bruises circulating online.
At the center of the storm is Kelsea Tafirenyika, 22, Collins’s second wife. She was arrested on August 4 after a drugs raid at her Greystone Park home. The State alleges that detectives found ampoules of pethidine and morphine in her bedroom and cannabis in her car. She was granted bail by the High Court this week, but was rearrested outside Chikurubi Prison hours later.
She now faces new charges of money laundering and possession of a forged identity document. Prosecutors claim she accumulated assets worth millions of dollars in just three years, including luxury vehicles and multiple properties, using money from the alleged sale of dangerous drugs. The court heard that investigators have already recovered several houses and cars as part of the probe.
For the women in the Bulawayo dock, the courtroom was quiet and tense. A mother, a daughter and a relative, now facing the full weight of the law together. For the communities watching, the case has raised hard questions about power, privilege and how far the tentacles of the alleged drug trade reach.
All three remain in custody. The magistrate will return to the matter on September 3.
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