It is the classic case of an insect enchanted by a Venus flytrap.
When the public looks upon the wreckage of high-society relationships in this country, the immediate reaction is a mix of shock, horror, and utter bewilderment.
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We watch as the full weight of state machinery, political authority, and immense wealth is unleashed against former partners, turning intimate fallouts into public displays of brutal retribution.
The pattern is unmistakable.
It stretches from the harrowing ordeal of Marry Mubaiwa—stripped of her health, her children, and her dignity—to the police action targeting Wicknell Chivayo’s former wife and her mother.
Now it reaches Kelsea Tafirenyika, her mother, and her sister.
It is a terrifying spectacle that leaves ordinary citizens asking one fundamental question.
Why do young women continue to walk open-eyed into romantic unions with the ruling elite, fully aware of the catastrophic dangers that await them when things go wrong?
We live in a country where the abuse of state power to settle personal scores is not a secret.
It is broadcast on national television, detailed in court reports, and discussed in every street corner.
The cautionary tales are not buried in history books; they are unfolding in real time right before our eyes.
The public trials, arbitrary arrests, alleged abductions, and savage beatings are just the beginning.
The denial of medical access, sudden loss of custodial rights, and total weaponization of the police force are standard operating procedures when an elite relationship collapses.
To pretend that these dangers are unknown or hidden is to ignore reality.
The warning signs are written in bold, glaring letters.
Yet, despite this obvious peril, a steady stream of young women continues to queue up for a seat at the table of the powerful.
There is a deeply frustrating refusal to learn from the ruins of those who came before.
Many step into these relationships driven by pure opportunism, blinded by the immediate allure of private jets, luxury vehicles, high-end shopping sprees, and elevated social status.
They see the material spoils of political patronage and decide that the price is worth paying, convincing themselves that they are far too clever, far too beautiful, or far too indispensable to suffer the same fate as the discarded exes before them.
This arrogance is precisely where the trap snaps shut.
It is pure delusion to assume that a member of the ruling elite—accustomed to using state apparatuses as personal weapons—will spare you the moment a relationship collapses.
Power used for personal vengeance does not change its nature depending on who stands beside it.
When a man’s primary mode of resolving conflict is coercion and state-sponsored victimization, every partner is merely a temporary beneficiary of that power—never immune to it.
To enter such a union believing you are the special exception is not just naive; it is a profound failure of judgment.
The trade-off being made is as clear as it is reckless.
It is the conscious decision to exchange long-term personal safety, integrity, and basic human rights for short-term luxury and proximity to power.
In a repressive environment where state institutions exist to serve powerful individuals rather than justice, linking oneself to elite patronage is the ultimate gamble.
When you ride the tiger of unchecked political power, you cannot act surprised when it turns around to devour you.
It is time we stop treating every fallen partner of the ruling elite purely as an unsuspecting victim of an unpredictable storm.
The storm is entirely predictable.
The methods of the powerful are well-documented, and the machinery of state retribution is visible to anyone who chooses to look.
The abuse of state power by the ruling class remains utterly condemnable.
Yet those who willingly step into its inner sanctum cannot ignore the shattered lives left in its wake.
They cannot escape the reality that a weaponized state protects no one forever.
Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com
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