It was just a few days before Christmas, but any feelings of goodwill in Maputo were smashed by the news that 36-year-old Valentina Guebuza, the daughter of former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, died after being shot. The alleged perpetrator of the shots was her husband, Zofimo Muiuane.
The daughter of the former president was allegedly shot and died on her way to the Heart Institute hospital on December 14. After Guebuza was killed, Muiuane handed himself in at a police station in Maputo and was arrested the following day.
“The first indications we have is that this was an authentic case of domestic violence which ended, sadly, in the death of the citizen Valentina Guebuza,” says police spokesman Inacio Dina.
In 2013, Guebuza was listed as one of the 20 most powerful young women in Africa by FORBES. As a civil training engineer, Guebuza held prominent positions in the telecommunications and banking sectors and led several family businesses, namely Focus 21, Gestão e Desenvolvimento, Lda, a family investment holding company. She was also involved in fisheries, transportation, mines and real estate, and with significant participation in operations at the Port of Beira Terminal and the subscription TV company, StarTimes.
Guebuza’s rise in business was fast between 2005 and 2015 while her father was president.
In 2007, Guebuza became a shareholder of Beira Grain Terminal. She was also a partner in the following companies: Railways of Mozambique (CFM), Cornelder de Moçambique, Nectar Mozambique, Sonipal, Seaboard Moz, Rainbow International, CFI Holdings and Merec Industries.
As chairman of the Board of Directors of StarTimes Media, a joint venture between China’s StarTimes and Focus 21, Guebuza was intrinsically involved in digital migration in Mozambique.
Civil society and private operators questioned the ability of StarTimes to carry out the work, as well as the procedure involved in awarding the company the tender.
Guebuza leaves behind a young daughter. She married Muiuane on July 26, 2014, in what was described as the ‘marriage of the year’. The wedding was attended by 1,700 guests, including the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, Swaziland’s King Mswati III, and the daughter of the Angola’s president, Isabel dos Santos. One year later, on July 2, 2015, they were the proud parents of a girl.
This supposedly happy story came to a tragic end on December 14.