THREE aspiring Zanu PF legislators have been forced to defend
themselves after their questionable past was exposed ahead of tomorrow’s
ruling party primary elections.
Mazowe North candidate, Campion Mugweni is crying foul and
accusing his opponents of mudslinging, following revelations that he was
once convicted of tax evasion in the United States.
Mugweni yesterday admitted that he indeed served time in a US correctional facility but was now a reformed man.
“This happened 12 years ago and I have since served my time and
returned home eight years ago. It is unfortunate that this past is now
being used to smear campaign me now when in 2016 I stood for the same
post, but lost to the incumbent — (Martin Dinha),” Mugweni said.
“Because now I have gained ground, some people want to run with
this, it is unfortunate. The people of Mazowe know me better and
appreciate my works. Let us go to the primary polls without mudslinging
of each other and allow Zanu PF structures to decide who is a better
person than the other, based on our ability to transform their
livelihood and bring the development that Zimbabwe need.”
He added: “If you look at the charges I faced, they are not an
offence in Zimbabwe generally. But, nevertheless, I did my time; I am
not a fugitive from justice, but a responsible person. No smear campaign
will overshadow the good thing I have done for the Mazowe people.”
Mugweni said on both occasions, State security agents cleared him to contest the polls.
“I have been cleared by all security agents because these issues
are circumstantial. I have a police clearance,” he said before producing
the same.
Mugweni was reportedly sentenced to 66 months in jail for
tax-related fraud in the US and ordered to pay $1,9 million in
restitution in 2008. He was reportedly deported to Zimbabwe after
serving his five and half years in prison. This means he could have been
deported in or around 2013.
“I will never run away from my unfortunate past, but I have also
contributed immensely to the well-being of the people of Mazowe
something which speaks for itself,” he said.
Founding ENG Capital Group director, Gilbert Muponda said he
could not be classified as a criminal because he was never convicted of
any crime by the courts.
Muponda and co-director Nyasha Watyoka were arrested in 2003
after ENG Capital collapsed and failed to pay hundreds of creditors.
But the businessman said he was cleared by authorities including the High Court, Interpol, ZRP and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
“I was wrongfully accused more than a decade ago. Only the Court
can declare criminals not (Temba) Mliswa or the Financial Gazette,” he
said on his Facebook page.
“The RBZ has even granted me a fresh Micro Finance Institute
licence after passing all vetting. The government indicated it was
regrettable how entrepreneurs were ill-treated and criminalised at that
time.”
Another aspiring Zanu PF candidate, Glorianne Francis, popularly
known as Glo Diamond, who is eyeing the Harare Central parliamentary
seat was accused by Nigerian-based media personality, Vimbai Mutinhiri
of having blood on her hands and lacking merit to lead the people
“A lady who fled the scene of the accident where my sister died
and then dodged every opportunity to answer questions refusing to tell
us what transpired wants to be an MP?” tweeted Mutinhiri.
Mutinhiri said Francis had failed to inform her family what
really transpired when her sister, Belinda died in a car crash in 2016
as the two were in the same vehicle.
But Francis said all the information on the accident was with the police station and “at all the hospitals.”
“I was told by the police how I was taken to the hospital. I have
never survived any other accident in Zimbabwe which again am falsely
accused of. Even should that have been true, that would only make me a
victim rather than a witch,” Francis said in a social media post. Newsday
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