Beauty Tembeni recounts her harrowing experience of nearly losing everything as she faced cyberbullying and harassment charges following her entanglement in a love triangle.
The case involved the posting of intimate pictures online.
Beauty was the sports coach at a top school in Harare when she was accused of harassing her lover’s wife and dragged to court by Lovelyn Zigora, the wife of her then lover Ronald Zigora.
Last week, Beauty was acquitted after the court ruled that the State failed to prove its case.
She was acquitted after a full trial by Harare magistrate Ruth Moyo.
The magistrate said from evidence produced in court, it showed that Beauty and the complainant, Lovelyn Zigora, had a civil conversation and Lovelyn was never harassed as she claimed in court.
The State produced WhatsApp conversations between the two which showed that Beauty never bothered Lovelyn in any way.
The court said the State didn’t prove that Beauty was, indeed, the one who leaked the pictures as there was no evidence to that effect.
Beauty said she lost almost everything when the case exploded and her name and photo started appearing in newspapers.
She said she had no idea that her then boyfriend, Ronald Zigora, was married.
“I was in a relationship with Ronald Tawanda Zigora from the 17th of September 2022 to September 2023, he promised marriage and we set a date for 1 January 2023.
“He had told me that he was separated from his wife, but I then discovered that he was not separated from his wife Lovelyn.
“We had a conversation with Lovelyn and she opened up to me that she is still with Ronald and that there are four other wives.”
Beauty added:
“She said if I get married, I will be the fifth, she also highlighted to me that she was just in the marriage for the sake of the kids.
“I was so heartbroken because I had high hopes for this man not knowing that he is a womaniser.
“Few months later Lovelyn, through her lawyer Obey Chitowamombe, served me with papers asking me to leave Ronald or pay US$10 000.
“I apologised to her because I was in the relationship not knowing that he was married. She accepted the apology on a condition that I pay US$500, I paid her and stopped seeing Zigora.”
However, the drama didn’t stop.
“Monday, 22 January 2024, fake accounts were created using my 2022 pictures with Ronald Zigora, tagging my work place.
“I reported the matter to Highlands Police on the same day.
“Ronald was summoned to the police station, he appeared on 25 January with Lovelyn, the wife.
“The police spoke to us and Lovelyn said she was not the one who phoned to threaten me, I then asked who did and she said it was Rumbidzai, the other wife.
“The matter was solved but soon after I was summoned to Malborough Police Station, accused of cyber bullying Lovelyn, from then we started going to court.”
Tembeni said she was pained by the ordeal.
“The issue was published, my work place was tagged. It’s good that my bosses are understanding, they politely asked me to solve my issues and promised to renew my contract if I’m indeed innocent.
“I totally understood because working with school kids doesn’t require a criminal record.
“I never bullied this woman. She is actually the one who bullied me. I never knew this man was married, she herself knows very well better than anyone else that her husband is a womaniser.
“I am very bitter because of the false allegations, as a professional person, who works with kids, I would never harass a fellow woman.”
state media
