THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) is
reportedly targeting Information, Communication and Technology minister Supa
Mandiwanzira, whom it wants probed for alleged abuse of office and underhand
dealings with State-owned telecommunications company, NetOne.
Two weeks ago, Prosecutor-General (PG) Ray Goba wrote to
Zacc board chairperson, Job Wabhira, seeking an update on the matter, which was
reported to the commission by former NetOne chief executive officer, Reward
Kangai, a year ago.
Zacc spokesperson, Phyllis Chikundura, curtly said: “We
have seen the letter from the PG and we will respond to it by tomorrow (today)
or any other day.”
Asked specifically if the commission was probing
Mandiwanzira, she requested for written questions.
“Put that in writing and we will give you a response,
likely, tomorrow because the commissioners have already gone home. More so
today is a Wednesday, it’s a sports day, so we work half day,” she said.
Goba, in is his letter to Zacc on December 20, 2017, said
Kangai had lodged a complaint against Mandiwanzira to the anti-graft body
through its commissioner responsible for investigations, Goodson Nguni.
“It is apparent that the complaint was lodged with your
commissioner Nguni early this year (last year).
“In the event, I am unable to direct that you investigate
the complaint lodged, as it would appear that Zacc is already seized with the
matter,” Goba said.
Mandiwanzira’s lawyer, Brian Hungwe said Kangai was raising
the allegations against the ICT minister in an attempt to scuttle efforts to
have him arrested for abuse of office, which were raised by an audit report on
NetOne.
“The allegations raised in the letter are a subject matter
of pending civil litigation in which my client is seeking delictual remedies
for defamation in the High Court. The veracity of his false allegations will be
tested in the court in due process,” Hungwe said.
“What has obviously prompted Mr Kangai to write and
distribute the material for the past two years is an attempt to pre-empt a
potential arrest over corruption allegations levelled against him following a
forensic investigation conducted by a reputable audit group at the behest of
the Auditor-General, whose report was published September 2016.”
He said Kangai apparently has been on a vicious campaign on
social media, and distributing material to government officials in a futile
attempt to thwart investigations against himself and a potential arrest.
“He is clutching at straws and drowning, and the minister
won’t be there to assist him,” Hungwe stated.
NetOne acting chief executive officer, Brian Mutandiro
confirmed Zacc, armed with warrant of search and seizure (WSS-Zacc number
10/2016), pounced on the telecoms giant in 2016 to arrest him and the chief
finance officer.
“They were investigating allegations raised by Kangai
alleging corrupt activities by our management and the minister. After several
hours and taking all the documents they wanted, they realised that they had
been misled,” he said.
Hungwe questioned the timing of the allegations.
“It’s quite exciting for someone to raise allegations of
corruption against a minister at this time of the year.
But what matters most is what the motive is? It’s the same
allegations that Kangai is going behind the backdoor to foist upon the
Prosecutor-General in the futile hope that the dragnet will carry others,” he
said.
Kangai was fired from NetOne last year on allegations of
abuse of office and failure to lead the State-owned mobile entity to
profitability, and he challenged the dismissal with no luck.
The former NetOne boss also wrote a voluminous report to
then President Robert Mugabe alleging that Mandiwanzira pushed him out of the
State entity after he refused to engage Megawatt Energy, a Chinese company
registered in South Africa, in a deal that he alleges would have seen NetOne
losing at least $4 million.
An unrelenting Kangai has since written another report to
President Emmerson Mnangagwa making the same allegations that Mandiwanzira was
abusing his office for personal gain.
In return, Mandiwanzira filed a lawsuit against Kangai,
accusing him of defamation, a case which is yet to be heard by the High Court.
According to documents seen by NewsDay, Zacc has been
probing NetOne since May 24, 2016, but the results have not been made public.
A search warrant issued by former Harare magistrate, Vakai
Chikwekwe, on May 24, 2016 reveals that the anti-graft body was probing the
mobile operator for various deals that included the Megawatt Energy, Bopela
Group, appointments of senior management and other deals involving MetBank.
According to the warrant of search and seizure, Zacc took,
among other documents, a tripartite agreement between NetOne, Zanu PF youth
league and Bopela Group. It also took a tripartite agreement between NetOne,
Huawei and Bopela Group.
Zacc also took the NetOne-Huawei contract, a deed of settlement
between NetOne and MetBank and an advertisement for the post of NetOne chief
operating officer, among other documents.
This, according to Zacc sources, was to enable the
anti-graft body to investigate allegations of underhand dealings involving some
NetOne officials and ministry staffers.
The warrant also demanded that NetOne provides minutes of
board meetings on the Megawatt Energy deal, after it emerged that the Chinese
firm had links to a company called Blue Nightingale Trading, where it is alleged
Mandiwanzira was a shareholder. Newsday
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