Order of the Star of Zimbabwe in Gold

• Auxillia Mnangagwa
• Kirsty Coventry
• Ezekiel Guti

Controversy

Mnangagwa was criticised for awarding his wife Auxillia a gold medal for her “outstanding performance” in her philanthropic activities among 99 other outstanding institutions, civilians and fighters of the liberation war. In response, Mnangagwa said he played no role in the decision to award his wife the medal.

In a statement, Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba said the decision was made by an Honours and Awards Committee chaired by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga. Charamba said:

"For the avoidance of doubt, National Honours and Awards are handled in terms of the law of the land, namely the Honours and Awards Act (Chapter 10:11), promulgated by the parliament of Zimbabwe.

Decisions on who deserves to be honoured in terms of the aforesaid law is taken by cabinet on the recommendations of its committee on Honours and Awards which is chaired by our vice president Dr C.G.D. N Chiwenga. The committee in turn is underpinned by Honours and Awards technical committee which is chaired by Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr. M. J.M. Sibanda.

In deciding on the scope of honours and awards for any given year government looks at actors in key sectors and areas of our society who will have impacted positively on our nation. This year’s line up of people and institutions deserving national recognition was however unique in that it was inaugural under the second republic, and thus covers vast canvas of actors who spanned across epochs, in order to make a clear statement on those values and sacrifices we extol and hold dear for our nation as we remould our present and shape the future with a view to inventing brave, caring, compassionate and creative society"

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References