Constantino Chiwenga

In 2019, suffering from an undisclosed ailment, Chiwenga checked into a South African hospital. A fracus arose when his wife Marry visited him. She was later charged with attempted murder.

In December 2019 Chiwenga filed for divorce from Marry.

Zimbabwe's government announced on 18 December 2017 that Chiwenga was set to retire pending redeployment. He retired from the army on 19 December.

On 28 December 2017 Constantino Chiwenga was sworn in as co-vice president of the Republic of Zimbabwe, serving together with former Security minister Kembo Mohadi.

The political crisis in Zimbabwe came to a head on 6 November 2017, when Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa was dismissed by President Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa fled the country two days later, citing "incessant threats" against his family. Meanwhile, Chiwenga was on an official visit to China, where he learned that Mugabe had ordered his arrest upon his return to Zimbabwe. However, soldiers loyal to Chiwenga, disguised as baggage handlers, overpowered the police at the airport and cleared the way for his arrival on 12 November 2017.

On 13 November 2017, Chiwenga released a press statement chastising those responsible for the dismissals of government officials in the ruling ZANU-PF party. He warned that the armed forces would be forced to intervene should the "purging" not stop. In response, ZANU-PF's spokesperson Simon Khaya-Moyo released a press statement accusing Chiwenga of "treasonable conduct".

Chiwenga was born in 1956 in Wedza District of Mashonaland East Province. He was educated up to O Level at St Mary's Mission in Hwedza, together with former students now Air Marshal Perence Shiri and Brigadier General Shungurirai, Commander Mechanised Brigade. Chiwenga later on attained a PhD in ethics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2015. On 29 July 2016, he changed his name to Constantino Guveya Dominic Nyikadzino Chiwenga.

Chiwenga has been married and divorced several times. In 1998 he married Jocelyn Jacobsen (née Mauchaza) with a divorce in 2012. There were no children from his marriage to Jacobsen. In 2011 he married Marry (Mary) Mubaiwa, a former model, while still married to Jacobsen. In 2012 Marry bore their first child, a son, and a year later she bore a girl.

On the formation of Zimbabwe Defence forces (ZDF) in 1994 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and was appointed commander of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA). Upon the retirement of General Vitalis Zvinavashe in 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

In 1981 he was attested to the newly formed Zimbabwe National Army as a brigadier commanding First Brigade in Bulawayo. He was later promoted to the rank of major general and reverted to his original name of Constantine Chiwenga.

In the early 1980s after failing basic Officers course at the Zimbabwe Staff College he bribed a junior officer to give him answers for practical Intermediate Staff Course. It is alleged that he accepted a green coded paper with suggested solutions which are available only after the exam. Chiwenga was expelled from the course after refusing to name the junior officer who had given him the paper. He then went on to shoot himself through the right shoulder in an attempt to end his life and was admitted at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare.

He joined the war in 1973 and was trained in Mozambique as a ZANLA militant. Chiwenga adopted the war name of "Dominic Chinenge". He rose through the ranks to become a Provincial Commander for Masvingo/Gaza Province deputised by George Chiweshe who was the Provincial Commissar. He was later promoted to the High Command in 1978 to the post of ZANLA Deputy Political Commissar as Josiah Tungamirai's deputy.

Constantino Guveya Dominic Nyikadzino Chiwenga (born Constantine Guveya Chiwenga on 25 August 1956) is a Zimbabwean politician and former army general currently serving, since 2017, as the First Vice-President of Zimbabwe under President Emmerson Mnangagwa. In addition since 2017, he has been the Vice President and Second Secretary of the ruling Zimbabwean African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) jointly serving with Kembo Mohadi. In 2017, he, among others, managed to successfully topple Zimbabwe's President of 37 years Robert Mugabe in a bloodless coup.