The row between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s wife and a Lebanese businessman over a $1.3 million diamond ring took a fresh twist after her WhatsApp messages were exposed in local media.
The First Lady Grace Mugabe’s texts to Ahmed Jamal had been submitted as court evidence in the dispute following the diamond ring deal going sour last year.
The businessman took Mrs Mugabe to court last December accusing her of seizing his properties in Harare and threatening to harm him.
But the First Lady denied the accusations claiming that she was only trying to recover her money that she had paid for the diamond ring for her 20th wedding anniversary.
The president’s wife said she demanded her money back from Mr Jamal for failing to deliver the ring in time. She also said the ring was substandard.
According to an affidavit from the businessman, Mrs Mugabe accuses him, in her WhatsApp messages, of being abusive but demands a refund.
“Threaten as much as you want, the property is gone, you have to come to terms with that. You can abuse me but you owe me, you won’t force me to wear that thing [ring],” reads part of the text from Mrs Mugabe.
She goes on: “So why worry abusing me? You know it, it’s your house. Why don’t you come and live in it? You only talk about your property, what about my money?
“Stupid. Don’t ever think you will enter this country again (sic).”
Mrs Mugabe, often mocked in Zimbabwe for her penchant for expensive tastes, said she had lost $1.3 million in the diamond ring deal.
She made the admission in an affidavit filed at the High Court in Harare in December after a judge ordered her to return three properties that she seized from the Lebanese businessman. She accused Mr Jamal of being an international criminal.
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