Mphoko Leaves Family Legacy Of Ruins

Apart from his contribution to Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle and becoming Vice President, the late Phelekezela Report Mphoko, whose body is set to arrive in Harare today from India where he died, leaves behind a family legacy of ruins, divisions and toxicity which will linger on for years after he is gone.

Mphoko has left his family deeply divided and at war: His son Siqokoqela was not talking to him and is not talking to his “mother” and two sisters.

Mphoko is survived by his wife, Laurinda (nee Mabunda originally from Mozambique), three children — Sikhumbuzo, Siqokoqela and Siduduzo — as well as several grandchildren.

However, a cloud of a bitter fallout envelopes the family engulfed in a deadly feud over parentage, business or money, and infighting which led to arrests at the height of acrimony.

The whole situation is dramatic.

It gets worse, Siqokoqela no longer believes Laurinda is his mother.

His father said she is, but she says he has discovered she is not.

When Mphoko came to power as Vice President in 2014, he was close to his son Siqokoqela.

They were always together and Siqokoqela was almost like his head of security or protocol.

However, as time went by they fiercely clashed over Choppies supermarket chain, ownership and money.

As the squabble deteriorated it led to the arrest of Siqokoqela and his wife Nomagugu in 2018, facing fraud and extortion charges respectively.

Nomagugu was arrested for allegedly ordering 15 Choppies supermarket managers in Bulawayo to unlawfully dispense over US$30 000 cash from their point of sale machines after threatening them with either deportation or dismissal.

Choppies chief executive Ramachandran Ottapathu later withdrew the fraud and extortion charges against Siqokoqela and Nomagugu.

The Mphokos also went to court fighting for Choppies control and associated money.

Last year, Siqokoqela was arrested and faced three counts of raping a minor who is his relative, one count of escaping from lawful custody.

He pleaded not guilty to all the counts, but was convicted on all four counts after a full trial.

The three counts of rape were taken as one for purposes of sentence and a 20 year term of imprisonment was imposed.

On the fourth count, Siqokoqela received a two-month jail term which was ordered to run concurrently with the sentence of 20 years imprisonment imposed on the rape counts.

However, Siqokoqela was later acquitted on appeal.

Yet his relationship with his father had already been damaged irretrievably.

Siqokoqela was specifically not included in his father’s will.

On the Phelekezela Report Mphoko Foundation preamble, it is specified that Siqokoqela is excluded by name.

The preamble says Laurinda takes over when Mphoko dies and if she goes, Daluthando (son of Siduduzo) with Sikhumbuzo take over.

As Mphoko returns home in a casket from India for burial at Heroes Acre in Harare, he leaves behind a deeply divided family, bitterness and pain among them.

Siqokoqela will not even attend his own father’s funeral, a tragic ending to their relationship.

Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Judith Ncube said on Tuesday during a church service held at the family’s home in Douglasdale suburb, Bulawayo, Mphoko’s body will arrive tomorrow in Harare.

From there, it will be taken to Bulawayo and back to Harare for burial.

However, his family says Mphoko asked to be buried at his home, not at Heroes Acre in Harare.

Whatever happens on that, one thing is certain: Mphoko left a family legacy of devastating ruins.