President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s anti-corruption crusade is
in jeopardy after Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission bosses came out guns
blazing over the alleged politicisation of the graft-busting body.
According to internal Zacc communication seen by The
Standard, the commissioner responsible for investigations Goodson Nguni is
being accused by fellow commissioners of using Mnangagwa’s name to kill cases
and pursue political opponents.
Nguni is even accused of using Zacc to fight his domestic
wars after his relationship with one of former first lady Grace Mugabe’s
sisters went sour.
The commissioner said Zacc was now facing a litany of
lawsuits because of cases bungled by Nguni, who allegedly accuses his
colleagues of being members of a Zanu PF faction known as G40.
“Commissioner Nguni has in meetings repeatedly accused
other commissioners of being G40 and declaring that he is a Lacoste getting
instructions from the highest office in a dispensation where His Excellency the
president and commander-in-chief is on record for shunning political
factionalism,” reads one of the letters penned by disgruntled commissioners to
Zacc chairperson Job Whabira dated March 13, 2018.
“Mr Chairman, we would like also clarifications on what our
channel of communication with the Honourable Vice-President [Constantino
Chiwenga] is, since we have been notified officially that he is responsible for
the commission’s administration.
“We have witnessed with concern that at the commission
meeting of Tuesday February 6, 2018 commissioner Nguni informed a full board of
commissioners that he was instructed by the highest office to disregard cases,
and to put certain cases on hold for a rainy day.
“The commissioner has continued to pursue those cases and
we are faced with unchallengeable legal challenges as government has distanced
itself from some of those cases.”
The letter was penned soon after a meeting of commissioners
where Nguni allegedly claimed he was taking orders from Mnangagwa on who to
arrest and not to touch.
The case of University of Zimbabwe vice-chancellor Levy
Nyagura, who was arrested for allegedly assisting Grace to acquire her
controversial PhD, was cited by the commissioners as one example where Nguni
took matters into his own hands.
Nguni threatened to sue all the commissioners for allegedly
defaming him.
He denied accusations that he was making unilateral
decisions, claiming “all commissioners are members of the investigation
committee”.
The revelations about alleged Mnanagwa name dropping
follows an announcement by Nguni last week that he was investigating several
alleged illicit deals involving the National Social Security Authority (NSSA).
Nguni addressed journalists on his own and other
commissioners are distancing themselves from the statement.
He claimed NSSA’s subsidiary, the National Building Society
(NBS), was used by former president Robert Mugabe’s relatives to loot public
resources.
The commissioners alleged the investigation was being done
without their knowledge and they did not know about the media briefing.
The Zacc insiders claimed Nguni, acting alone, on several
occasions interviewed NBS top management and NSSA management as well as some
board members, seizing documents from the bank, even without an order from a
court.
Nguni claimed that the NBS undertook projects worth $78
million without going to tender.
Documents seen by The Standard indicate that Nguni claimed
he was carrying out orders from Mnangagwa.
NBS entered into an offtake agreement approved by the NSSA
board chaired by fired chairman Robin Vela to construct 10 000 housing units
countrywide.
The project was to cost $78 million and the resolution to
the same was made in July 2017 when Prisca Mupfumira was still the Labour and
Social Welfare minister.
Nguni claimed it was Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao who
illegally approved the project.
The sources said the NSSA investigation was linked to
Nguni’s failed relationship with Grace’s sister Rose Chidhakwa.
Nguni’s relationship with fellow commissioner Farai
Chinyani, who is a daughter of Shuvai Gumbochuma, Grace’s elder sister, is said
to be now strained because of the alleged anti-corruption crusade.
Nguni was once challenged to recuse himself on matters
involving the former first family due to a conflict of interest.
He reportedly refused to do so claiming that he was even
investigating his own brother Sylvester Nguni.
According to NBS, the Dzivarasekwa housing project was not
subject to tender processes since it was a private project where the bank was a
client to a property developer and not the other way round.
“One cannot go to tender on an independent developer’s land
where they have their own development rights,” read part of the responses from
the bank.
“The building society can, however, look at one’s project
proposal and consider it from an investment point of view, where a due
diligence is done on the viability of the project.
The bank also denied Nguni’s other claim that the private
developer did not provide surety to NBS before funding was approved.
In the letter to Whabira, the commissioners accused Nguni
of clearing some people under investigation “in highly suspicious
circumstances” before the dockets had been completed and taken to court by the
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
The commissioners also alleged that Nguni’s conduct was
tarnishing the image of the commission, putting it into disrepute resulting in
loss of confidence by the public.
Nguni yesterday refused to comment on the matter, saying
those making the allegations had something to hide.
“Write what you have. I have no problem with that,” he
said.
“I am not surprised because one of the commissioners is a
child of one of those fingered.
“We are going to follow evidence, not people. It confirms
what some of us know that there are some commissioners who don’t want the
arrest of their G40 relatives.”
Former Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo also once
accused Nguni of fighting Mnangagwa’s political battles after Zacc tried to
arrest him for the alleged theft of Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund money.
Standard
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