I am the good thing in Chiluba's life - Regina.

(From The Post (Zambia) - AAGM)

Byline: Amos Malupenga

I am the good thing in Chiluba's life, said former MMD chairperson for women affairs Regina Mwanza yesterday.

In an exclusive interview, Regina, who divorced Eddie Mwanza of Indeni Oil Refinery last year, revealed that she got married to former president Frederick Chiluba on May 6, this year in Lusaka.

This was at Lusaka Boma local court under the customary law.

"Of course Dr. Chiluba has found a good thing according to the Bible," Regina said. "The Bible says he who finds a wife, finds a good thing.

So I am sure I am the good thing in his life and I would want to be that forever."

Chiluba, who was found relaxing with Regina in one of the living rooms, excused himself because he didn't want to witness the interview. "I will leave the two of you to talk because she may be jittery if I am around, so I will join you when you are through," said Chiluba before he went to watch soccer on Supersport. And Regina was not jittery. She answered every question with a lot of confidence. She also laughed at a number of questions which she said people were creating through speculation.

Thank you for this opportunity but I know it has been long overdue. People yesterday (Friday) received news about your marriage with the former president with a sigh of relief as you know you have made a few public appearances together and people had made conclusions already but were just wondering when the official announcement would be done.

Some people were saying you would do things like Nelson Mandela who lived quietly with Gracia Machel until Bishop Desmond Tutu encouraged them to marry officially because they were setting a bad example to the young people in the nation. So my first question is: Why did it take this long to marry when both of you divorced a long time ago?

Well, before I answer that question, I must say that you are most welcome to our home and we are very grateful that you were able to make time to come. I don't believe we took long to get married as you realise we both came from a background of divorce and divorce is a very traumatic situation, it is a very traumatic thing, especially where children are involved.

There are children involved in these marriages and in these divorces and you have to take them into account. You have to think of them before you jump into the next marriage. So we wanted first to look at those issues and make sure that the children were settled and ensure that they didn't feel divorced as well because when you divorce the father, children become a little bit confused, they don't know which way to go, they don't know whether to go to the mother or go to the father but we had to make them relax and feel that they were welcome in either home, either with their father or their mother.

And that is what we managed to do, we managed to relax our children. So only after that did we start thinking of getting married. And I had to make sure that I wasn't jumping into this marriage because of the divorce or for other reasons, I wanted to get into this marriage because I loved the man and that is what I wanted to do and that is what I wanted for myself. So we had to take time to do that.

For how long have you known each other now?

It depends on what you mean, whether politically or courting.

Okay, start politically and end with courting.

As a political leader, I have known him for a while since I was Constituency chairperson for Ndola Central where Hon. Eric Silwamba was my member of parliament then in 1993. I knew him not personally as such but just as my leader in the party. I can't even say we knew each other then because we would just welcome him and execute programmes for him and things like that. So I have known him quite a while in that area. As in courting (she laughs before proceeding with the answer) that's a good one. Not as speculated really. There were a lot of speculations. Our friendship was platonic for a long long time actually. It was just a working relationship. I knew him in that manner (courting) for the past two years really (since year 2000).

But there are allegations that your relationship started when both of you were married. I know you have touched on that but how true is that?

It's not true. I separated with my husband five years ago, I …