ZANU-PF Secretary for Administration Cde Obert Mpofu
yesterday said Chief Felix Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni is in the habit of making
false allegations against Government and the ruling party due to ignorance
since he spent many years out of the country.
Testifying before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Gladmore Mushove
in a matter in which Chief Ndiweni and his 13 subjects are accused of
destroying a villager’s property, Cde Mpofu said Chief Ndiweni was out of touch
with reality.
The former Home Affairs and Culture Minister came to
testify after Chief Ndiweni alleged that Cde Mpofu was behind his arrest and
had influenced the complainant in their matter, Mr Fetti Mbele, to file
criminal charges.
“The first accused person (Chief Ndiweni) has been raising
false allegations against Zanu-PF and the Government. His problem is that he
has been out of the country for a long time hence he has lost touch with the
goings on in the country” Cde Mpofu said.
He said he didn’t even know the complainant in the matter,
saying when the incident happened he was in Harare.
“I was actually in Harare when the incident happened and in
addition to that I don’t even know Mr Mbele (the complainant) and even if the
court asks me to identify him, I won’t be able to positively identify him,” Cde
Mpofu said.
He also denied having held a meeting with Chief Ndiweni
whom he described as a “political foe.”
“I have never had any meeting with the first accused
person. Other than that we are not related in any way except that he is a
political foe who could issue statement after statement about me. He makes a
lot of anti-Government and Zanu-PF statements and that is what I know,” Cde
Mpofu said.
He also denied allegations that he flexed his political
muscle by using his position as Home Affairs Minister to influence police at
Mbembesi Police Station to arrest the accused.
“I have never spoken to any police officer at Mbembesi
Police Station in the last five years. It is through the Ntabazinduna
leadership that I got to know of the matter after they had notified me as their
MP. I then referred them to women lawyers associations since the case involved
a woman,” Cde Mpofu said.
Chief Ndiweni told the court that the charges they were
facing stemmed from Cde Mpofu’s efforts to fix him after he filed criminal
charges against him alleging that he stole his late father, Chief Khayisa’s 200
head of cattle.
He said he reported the theft at Mbembesi Police Station
but Cde Mpofu, who was then Home Affairs and Culture Minister, allegedly
facilitated the docket’s disappearance.
Cde Mpofu has since filed a $300 000 lawsuit against Chief
Ndiweni over the allegations and the matter is pending.
According to court papers, Mr Mbele of Ntabazinduna was
banished from the village by the chief after his wife Ms Nonkangelo Mpengesi
was allegedly caught having sex with another villager.
In July last year, Chief Ndiweni ruled that Mr Mbele and
his “adulterous” wife should be banished from Sifelani village, saying
“prostitution” will not be tolerated in his area.
Mr Dumisani Dube, early last year, asked the court to
subpoena Cde Mpofu to testify in court following allegations by the traditional
leader implicating him in their arrest.
However, Cde Mpofu, through an affidavit dated July 6,
2018, which was brought to court by his lawyer Mr Byron Sengweni, declined to
testify saying he knew nothing about the matter.
Mr Dube then sought a court order compelling Cde Mpofu to
attend court after which the latter was served with the summons.
Chief Ndiweni and the other accused persons are denying the
violence charges levelled against them by Mr Mbele.
The prosecutor, Mr Kudakwashe Jaravaza, said on July 26
last year at around 4PM, Mbele and his wife arrived from Bulawayo to find some
villagers standing outside their homestead.
Kimpton Sibanda (72), a village head and two other
villagers, claimed they were ordered by Chief Ndiweni to destroy Mbele’s garden
fence and the kraal.
“Sibanda instructed the villagers to destroy the fence and
kraal. At around 5PM, Chief Ndiweni arrived and ordered the villagers to
continue destroying Mr Mbele’s fence and kraal,” said Mr Jaravaza.
The order followed Mr Mbele’s alleged defiance of Chief
Ndiweni’s verdict to divorce his wife.
Chief Ndiweni had given a ruling that Mr Mbele’s wife
should vacate her husband’s home, but she did not comply with the order since
they had resolved the matter as a couple, prompting the chief to order the
destruction of his fence and kraal.
The trial continues on July 3. Chronicle
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