No photos allowed as Tanzanian President visits Chivayo home

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan made a secretive trip to Zimbabwe on Tuesday to mourn the late socialite Wicknell Chivayo.

President Hassan was driven from Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to Chivayo’s Gletwin home, where mourners have gathered ahead of his burial at Glen Forest Memorial Park on Thursday.

Journalists and mourners were ordered not to take photographs or videos during her visit, although a video of her motorcade driving through Harare and a picture of her military aircraft taking off later emerged.

Sources told ZimLive that she spent just over 30 minutes at the Chivayo home before paying a courtesy call on President Emmerson Mnangagwa and heading back to the airport. She was on the ground in Zimbabwe for less than three hours.

The Tanzanian president had been expected to attend the official opening of the 153rd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Arusha, where about 2,000 lawmakers from around the world are gathered, but instead sent a pre-recorded video message.

Chivayo’s uncle and family spokesman, Herbert Chivhayo, said on Tuesday that the family had been informed by the Government that foreign dignitaries would attend the funeral.

“We are expecting them from today onwards. As Zimbabweans, we must demonstrate that we can mourn in peace and in unity,” he said.

He did not reveal the identities of the dignitaries.

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Tanzania President Samia Suluhu mourns Chivayo Wicknell Chivayo was my friend – Mnangagwa