KEY POINTS
- Pokello Nare celebrated 40th birthday in Italy with luxury displays.
- Outfits, travel and shopping sprees worth tens of thousands of US dollars.
- Posts triggered backlash amid Zimbabwe’s economic crisis.
Pokello Nare, the socialite and former Big Brother Africa contestant romantically linked to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son, Emmerson Jnr, has triggered widespread anger after flaunting a lavish 40th birthday celebration in Italy while millions of Zimbabweans grapple with economic hardship.
A milestone marked in opulence
Nare, who brands herself the “Queen of Swagger,” celebrated her birthday at Lake Como with more than a dozen friends. On Instagram, she documented the trip from Emirates first-class travel to luxury shopping and dinners.
Her Emirates ticket alone was estimated at more than US$8,000. She paired Louis Vuitton Mahina pyjamas (US$2,200) with Olympia sneakers (US$1,250) and carried a Louis Vuitton trunk worth over US$9,000.
Designer sprees and champagne towers
In Portofino, she was filmed shopping at Dior, admiring the Mini Lady Dior Bag priced at about US$4,700, before gifting friends Dior perfumes. “Woke up feeling like Oprah,” she wrote in one post after surprising her entourage with designer fragrances.
Clips from Lake Como showed her in floor-length gowns at hotels charging upwards of US$1,200 per night, pouring her own Pokello-branded rosé into a champagne tower.
Backlash at home
The displays drew swift condemnation online, with many Zimbabweans describing her posts as “tone deaf” given soaring poverty and unemployment. They understands Emmerson Jnr, who did not travel, was privately angered by the images.
Strained ties with First Family
Nare’s relationship with Emmerson Jnr has long been contentious. Family sources say First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, in particular, rejects the relationship and only recognises his legal wife, Leya Travis-Mnangagwa.
Relatives accuse Nare of deliberately posting pictures with Emmerson Jnr on social media to unsettle Leya and undermine her marriage.
