At least 500 Netone sim cards meant to be used by
beneficiaries of the $600m Covid Relief fund to access their allocations were
last week stolen by Zanu PF youths who thought that lines were already loaded
with money.
The lines were stolen after the youths asked for a private
meeting with John Masvinhu at the Chiefs Hall in Masvingo where the sim cards
were being sorted out. Masvinhu is leading the disbursement at district level
in Masvingo.
An officer with the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises
who declined to be named for fear of victimisation told The Mirror that the
distribution system of the lines is lax and he suspected that it was
deliberately made that way so that officials can loot.
Masvinhu declined to comment and referred The Mirror to
Joseph Mupinga who heads the Ministry in Masvingo Province.
The theft was only discovered after one elderly woman in
Mucheke brought her line to the centre. This shocked the officials who had not
yet issued any line. The woman told the officials that she got her line from a
Zanu PF youth.
The youths probably abandoned their mission after realising
that there was no money in the lines.
“The youths wanted
to go and encash the relief money as soon as it reflects unfortunately the
money had not been loaded and they decided to give the sim cards to the actual
beneficiaries whom they could identify because the names are written on them,”
said a source.
Masvingo District Development Coordinator Roy Hove also
refused to comment and referred all questions to Ngonidzashe Mudzingwa from the
Social Welfare Department.
One source said that the matter would be reported to the
Police.
Masvingo Province ZRP acting spokesperson, Assistant
Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa said there was no report on the missing lines.
It is also
understood that senior Zanu PF officials brought in 3 000 names outside the
Government system. Zanu PF Ward 10 councillor Sengerai Manyanga told those
sorting out the lines that there was a special list of beneficiaries brought by
him and the Minister of State Ezra, Chadzamira which should be left intact.
“As you sift through
the names please don’t panic that some names are not registered with your
groups, put them aside ndaangu naState Minister, tine vanhu vedu 3 000
vatakanyoresa,” Manyanga is alleged to have said that to the team.
When contacted Manyanga said he only said the team may not
know everyone as some of the people are from his ward. He added that he also
collected sim cards for his people as some could not travel 14km to Chiefs
Hall.
Masvingo Mirror
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