HARARE – Pokello Nare, widely believed to be romantically linked to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son, Emmerson Jnr, has sparked outrage after flaunting a luxury 40th birthday celebration in Italy while millions of Zimbabweans struggle to survive a deepening economic crisis.
The former Big Brother Africa star marked her milestone birthday at Lake Como last weekend with more than a dozen friends.
Videos and photographs posted to her Instagram account, where she calls herself the “Queen of Swagger,” showed her travelling in Emirates first class, dressed head-to-toe in Louis Vuitton, and hosting extravagant dinners.
Nare, whose mother divorced and later married former finance minister Ignatius Chombo, promotes herself as an entrepreneur with online lines of “luxury” shoes, nail polish and champagne. But the modest scale of those ventures could hardly bankroll the opulence on display during her birthday celebrations – fuelling speculation that her wealth stems less from business success.
Her Emirates first-class ticket was estimated at more than US$8,000, while her “travel fit” – Louis Vuitton Mahina pyjamas (US$2,200) paired with Olympia sneakers (US$1,250) – carried a combined price tag that dwarfs the average Zimbabwean’s annual income. She also flaunted a Louis Vuitton trunk valued at over US$9,000.
Posts from the trip showed shopping sprees in Portofino, including a stop at Christian Dior where she admired the Mini Lady Dior Bag, retailing for around US$4,700, and gifted her friends designer perfumes. At one point, she posted: “Woke up feeling like Oprah,” after surprising each member of her entourage with a Dior fragrance.
Other clips showed her in floor-length gowns at luxury hotels on Lake Como, where suites cost upwards of US$1,200 per night, and pouring champagne into a tower of glasses from her own Pokello-branded rosé.
The posts triggered a storm online, with many Zimbabweans condemning the display as insensitive and “tone deaf.”
Emmerson Jnr, who did not travel with the group, was privately angered by the images.
