Chikore Faces Legal Consequences For Allegedly Committing Bigamy With Bona Mugabe
Simbarashe Mutsahuni Chikore, the son-in-law of the late former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, is allegedly facing serious legal consequences following the reports that he committed bigamy by marrying his wife Bona Nyepudzai Ouma while his marriage to Margaret Jeanine Brooks in the United States was still in effect.
Chikore had married Brooks in St. Louis County, Missouri, US, on 9 October 2000, and subsequently married Bona on 31 March 2014. However, Chikore only obtained a formal dissolution of his marriage to Brooks on 23 April 2014 – one month and 23 days after marrying Bona. It appears that Chikore only sought to formally dissolve his previous marriage after marrying Bona in order to conceal his actions.
It is important to note that bigamy is a criminal offense in Zimbabwe, which renders Chikore’s civil marriage to Bona invalid. As a result, his claims to property in their estate may also be deemed invalid.
These reports have emerged in the context of an ongoing legal dispute, following Bona Nyapudzai Ouma Mugabe’s filing for divorce from her husband Simbarashe Mutsahuni Chikore, after nine years of marriage. The couple married in 2014 at Mugabe’s Blue Roof mansion in Borrowdale, Harare, in a ceremony attended by African heads of state and government and other high-level dignitaries. They lived in a house donated by Mugabe himself, along Quorn Avenue in Mount Pleasant, Harare.
Bona filed for divorce under HC 1521/2023, citing the loss of love and affection between the couple and the fact that they have been living apart for over nine months. She is seeking full custody of their three children, with Chikore being granted access to them every alternating weekend. Bona has also requested that Chikore pay maintenance for the children in the amount of USD2,700 per child per month until they attain majority status or become self-sustaining, whichever occurs first. The couple jointly and severally acquired various movable and immovable properties during the marriage. Bona is 32 years old while Chikore is 46.
