HARARE – President Robert Mugabe’s number one child, Bona Nyepudzai’s tricky marriage to Simba Chikore, is allegedly on the brink of damage and possible collapse owing to secret plans by Mugabe and the First Lady Grace, to nudge their daughter into an influential political role in Zanu PF and government, The Telescope News reported.

Speculation is now rife that Mugabe and his wife, are working to position Bona into earning a powerful political post, either as a cabinet minister or top diplomat in preparation for possible higher office, in case Grace fails to make it into a post-Mugabe presidium it is emerging.

Mugabe believes Bona is disciplined and has what it takes to master statecraft.

The dire situation of the young couple has been compounded by Bona’s failure to conceive a baby more than a year after getting married as a pure virgin, raising alarm, despondency and frustration with her in-laws, including the first family itself, which is said to be itching for a grandchild while they are still in power, insiders close to the couple said this week.

According to local traditional beliefs, it is largely expected for a bride to fall pregnant immediately after the marriage festivity, especially if she was not deflowered before, after a few attempts during honeymoon, an Elder in the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa (Zaoga), who opened up on the issue when we first broke this story on 29 August 2014 said.

This conflict of interest and lack of synchronisation in priorities between the pair, has resulted in communication break-down at times, as Chikore is zeroing in on attempts at fatherhood, while Bona seems bent on giving in to the first family’s scheme of building a political power base for her, to complement her mother’s bid to become vice president or head of state should the political pendulum swing to her favour in 2018, the insiders revealed.

Only last month both Bona and Simba made a tacit admission that all was not “rosy” in their marriage as sometimes they could spend half a day without talking to each other, due to being fed up with one another.by Mary-Kate Kahari- Source-byo24