Is Zimbabwe's vice president using skin lightening creams?

Zimbabwe’s vice president Constantino Chiwenga has set the record on allegations that he has been bleachening to attain a lighter skin complexion.

Chiwenga, the former chief of defence forces has been mocked by Zimbabweans on social media, with some users cruelly calling him ‘Bleachy Chiwenga’ and ‘General Ambi’, after the famous make of skin cream.

During the burial of his sister on Tuesday, Chiwenga denied he uses skin whitening creams, explaining that he suffers from a skin disease that first surfaced last year as Operation Restore Legacy was being planned. This operation was eventually executed to force president Robert Mugabe’s resignation.

“It was during (the military operation) that I fell ill. I had this skin disease that affected my whole body from beneath my feet to my back and the journalists started saying I was using skin lightening creams but that was not the case. I was sick,” he said in quotes and a video clip carried by the state-run Chronicle.

Chiwenga added that he had sought diagnosis and treatment in South Africa, but those efforts had so far proved futile.

He however said herbs provided by a Roman Catholic nun had proved effective against the ailment that affected him and his wife who is a former Zimbabwean model.