Harare – 7 June 2025.
Pictures of a teenager getting convicted over theft of USD15,000 owned by VP Chiwenga’s wife, within 6 months of the 2nd Lady posing on camera with the nation’s biggest convicted fraudster currently swindling millions of dollars, Wicknell Chivayo, do not seem to make sense.
By Showbiz Reporter | ZimEye | A growing chorus of voices is calling on Zimbabwe’s Second Lady, Colonel Miniyothabo Baloyi Chiwenga, to show mercy on 18-year-old Succeed Mukaro, who was convicted this week of breaking into her Borrowdale shop and stealing cellphones worth US$15,000.
Mukaro, a teenager from Domboshava, pleaded guilty before Harare provincial magistrate Ethel Chichera after being apprehended while attempting to sell the stolen devices. He now awaits sentencing.
But public opinion is sharply divided. While the state proceeds with the case, many citizens online are pleading for compassion, asking the Vice President’s wife to drop the charges and consider rehabilitating the youth instead of incarcerating him.
“If I were Miniyothabo Baloyi Chiwenga, I would drop the charges, adopt Succeed Mukaro, and possibly employ him,” wrote one commenter, Sekuru Sithole Makumbe, in a widely shared Facebook thread.
A Cry for Mercy or a Slippery Slope?
Others in the thread pushed back, arguing that theft should not be excused regardless of circumstance.
“So how many thieves have you adopted so far?” asked Adrian Koto Chikambure.
“People need to be responsible for their actions… he made his bed, let him lie on it,” added Patty Moosheryeequa.
Still, Sekuru Sithole stood firm, urging Zimbabweans to think beyond the crime itself and reflect on the systemic poverty and youth unemployment that may have driven the teenager to act out of desperation.
“Did he commit the crime out of greed or survival? The same money that could’ve employed youths like Mukaro was looted — Gwanda Solar Project money, looted funds now buying luxuries. But we jump to punish a boy for phones while real criminals roam free.”
His comments drew comparisons between Mukaro’s situation and Zimbabwe’s broader socio-economic collapse, where elite-connected tenderpreneurs live in luxury, and youths struggle to survive.
The Case for Restorative Justice
Some advocates now call on the Second Lady — a senior officer in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and respected figure in both military and business circles — to set a national example of restorative justice.
They argue that rehabilitation, mentorship, and employment might not only change Mukaro’s life but spark a conversation about how the state can redirect wayward youth without condemning them permanently.
An Open Letter to the Second Lady
Dear Colonel Miniyothabo Baloyi Chiwenga,
Succeed Mukaro has erred. He has confessed. He is young. He is broken.
But what this moment calls for is not just the firmness of law, but the power of mercy. You have the ability to turn a court case into a national case study in redemption over retribution.
A single act of grace could reframe Zimbabwe’s justice narrative — and transform a convicted boy into a reformed man, a future builder.
Signed,
The People of Zimbabwe.