Constantino Chiwenga

Constantino Guveya Dominic Nyikadzino Chiwenga (born Constantine Chiwenga) (born 25 August 1956), is a Zimbabwean politician and former army general currently serving, since 2017, as the First Vice-President of Zimbabwe under President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Chiwenga was born in 1956 in Wedza District of Mashonaland East Province.

He was educated up to O Level at St Mary's Mission in Hwedza, together with former students: Perrance Shiri, later Air Marshal, and Shungurirai, later Brigadier General and Commander Mechanised Brigade.

He joined the war in 1973 and was trained in Mozambique as a ZANLA militant.

Chiwenga adopted the war name of "Dominic Chinenge".

He rose through the ranks to become a Provincial Commander for Masvingo/Gaza Province deputised by George Chiweshe who was the Provincial Commissar.

He was later promoted to the High Command in 1978 to the post of ZANLA Deputy Political Commissar as Josiah Tungamirai's deputy.

In the early 1980s after failing basic Officers course at the Zimbabwe Staff College he bribed a junior officer to give him answers for practical Intermediate Staff Course.

It is alleged that he accepted a green coded paper with suggested solutions which are available only after the exam.

Chiwenga was expelled from the course after refusing to name the junior officer who had given him the paper.

He then went on to shoot himself through the right shoulder in an attempt to end his life and was admitted at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare.

In 1981 he was attested to the newly formed Zimbabwe National Army as a brigadier commanding First Brigade in Bulawayo.

He was later promoted to the rank of major general and reverted to his original name of Constantine Chiwenga.

On the formation of Zimbabwe Defence forces (ZDF) in 1994 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and was appointed commander of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).

In 1998 he married Jocelyn Jacobsen (née Mauchaza) with a divorce in 2012.

There were no children from his marriage to Jacobsen.

Since 2003, he and his wife are on the sanction list for those Zimbabwean officials not allowed to enter European Union and the United States (his wife was removed from the SDN list in 2016).

Upon the retirement of General Vitalis Zvinavashe in 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

He is the chairman of the Joint Operations Command, which comprises the commanders of ZNA, Prison Services, Central Intelligence Organisation, Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Air Force of Zimbabwe.

He participated actively during the Zimbabwe land reform programme, and is a beneficiary of the land seizures with a thriving farm near Harare.

In 2011 he married Marry (Mary) Mubaiwa, a former model, while still married to Jacobsen.

In 2012 Marry bore their first child, a son, and a year later she bore a girl.

Chiwenga went on to earn a PhD in Ethics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2015.

On 29 July 2016, he changed his name to Constantino Guveya Dominic Nyikadzino Chiwenga.

Chiwenga has been married and divorced several times.

Since 2017, he has also been the Vice President and Second Secretary of the ruling Zimbabwean African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) jointly serving with Kembo Mohadi.

In 2017, he was the most prominent military leader involved in successfully toppling Zimbabwe's President of 37 years Robert Mugabe in a bloodless coup.

Zimbabwe's government announced on 18 December 2017 that Chiwenga was set to retire pending redeployment.

He retired from the army on 19 December.

On 28 December 2017 Constantino Chiwenga was sworn in as co-vice president of the Republic of Zimbabwe, serving together with former Security minister Kembo Mohadi.

The political crisis in Zimbabwe came to a head on 6 November 2017, when Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa was dismissed by President Robert Mugabe.

Mnangagwa fled the country two days later, citing "incessant threats" against his family.

Meanwhile, Chiwenga was on an official visit to China, where he learned that Mugabe had ordered his arrest upon his return to Zimbabwe.

However, soldiers loyal to Chiwenga, disguised as baggage handlers, overpowered the police at the airport and cleared the way for his arrival on 12 November 2017.

In 2019, suffering from an undisclosed ailment, Chiwenga checked into a South African hospital.

A fracus arose when his wife Marry visited him.

She was later charged with attempted murder.

In December 2019 Chiwenga filed for divorce from Marry.

Chiwenga married Colonel MIniyothabo Baloyi a serving member of the Zimbabwe National Army in June 2022.

In August 2020, he added the Health Ministry to his portfolio.