The home the couple shared, not far from Mr Mugabe’s private mansion in
Harare, has 43 rooms.

The asset register lodged with the court listed more than 40 companies,
including engineering, manufacturing and finance firms.

Mrs Chiyangwa’s statement in the court filings spells out the extraordinary
wealth she enjoyed as a married woman.

“I was accustomed to a life of unreserved flamboyance and can state without
hesitation that I have, for the past 25 years, enjoyed a very high standard
of living, way beyond that of most, if not indeed the rest of Zimbabwean
society, if not the entire African society.”

Before she split from her husband, Mrs Chiyangwa said in an interview that she
had no explanation for the family’s wealth, except that it was “God’s gift”.

The couple have two daughters, one of whom lives in London, where Mrs
Chiyangwa was said to have visited recently. Mr Chiyangwa said he had
several other children before he married Elizabeth, who has cited infidelity
as the grounds for divorce. In 2005, he reportedly admitted to having an
affair with Makosi Musambasi, a 24-year-old Zimbabwean nurse who was a
contestant on Channel 4’s Big Brother reality show.

Mr Chiyangwa insists he earned his wealth through hard work and accused his
wife of exaggerating his fortune.

“Many of those properties listed by my wife are not mine. They belong to other
businessmen. The valuations are from 2008, from the hyperinflationary era
and my assets are held in trust,” Mr Chiyangwa told the Telegraph.

A former policeman in the white-run Rhodesia, he became a Zanu PF MP and rose
to become party chairman in the key Mashonaland West region.

In 1996, he proposed the campaign to grab white-owned farms, threatening
“Rwanda” if farmers did not leave. He became renowned as a tycoon and
created Native Africa Investments as a parent company for wide-ranging
interests.

A prominent businessman in Harare, who asked not to be identified, said the
source of Mr Chiyangwa’s original wealth remained a mystery.

“It must be connected with Zanu PF as the party has been in control for more
than 30 years and he has been a generous contributor to it,” he said.

Mr Chiyangwa said he and Mr Mugabe shared a grandfather, but he rarely saw the
89-year-old Zimbabwean leader these days.

In 2004, he was arrested and detained by Mr Mugabe’s central intelligence
organisation after being accused of passing state secrets to South Africa,
before finding favour with the regime again.