HARARE – On a date in late January, Makoni police in Chitungwiza received a distress call.

At the other end of the line was a cabinet minister, who reported that there was an intruder at her home in the neighbourhood.

Police responded quickly and apprehended the man, a foreign national who stated that he was from Rwanda. Also at the house was the minister, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and her husband.

The minister, appointed to cabinet last September after years of activism in a women’s organisation set up to extol President Emmerson Mnangagwa, had a peculiar request to police: just arrest him, don’t question him.

Police followed their normal procedures and hauled the “intruder” in for questioning anyway. By the end of the interview, officers had stumbled on information with potentially huge implications on the minister’s marriage – and perhaps her career.

“Unsure how to proceed, senior officers told the minister that it was best to resolve the matter away from the glare of the public, which was inevitable if they took him to court. No charges were brought and the man was released,” a source familiar with the discussions told ZimLive.

The “intruder” told the officers that the minister, who is in her late 30s, had lied. Not only had she invited him to the house, but he was the father of her two children whom she has for years passed off as her husband’s.

“He produced DNA results showing that he was the father of the minister’s two children. He went further, he said he built the house where he had just been arrested and has receipts for all the materials used to construct it,” our source revealed.

The reason the man had been at the house, he told officers, was because the minister called her for a meeting – before her husband arrived unexpectedly.

“She had called the Rwandese guy to discuss child support, she wanted US$10,000 per month. When her husband arrived, the minister didn’t think she could explain the scene away and decided to call police saying the man was an intruder,” ZimLive was told.

“Her husband now knows the truth because of her clumsy handling of the incident.”

ZimLive has not been able to independently confirm the man’s claims of being the father of the minister’s two children.

We asked the minister to comment on the allegations. She responded: “I can’t comment.”

Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said: “I haven’t received such a report.”