An investigation done in collaboration with Information for
Development Trust (IDT), a non-profit organisation helping media probe
corruption and bad governance, revealed that Grace made numerous cash
withdrawals in foreign currency when the majority of citizens were restricted
to paltry local currency allocations.
Available records show that she made the illegal
withdrawals in the weeks just before her husband, Robert Mugabe — who had ruled
Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 — passed away at a private hospital in
Singapore where he had been receiving treatment since April 2019.
Mugabe died in early September of the same year. Grace had
been named on a long list of powerful individuals who had externalised millions
of dollars in foreign currency in early 2018, just after President Emmerson
Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe in a military coup.
Her sons, Robert Jr and Chatunga, had become infamous for
splashing mega-dollar parties in neighbouring South Africa during Mugabe’s last
days in office.
Mugabe was known for his penchant for foreign junkets and
made several trips to the Far East for medical check-ups and family holidays.
To access cash withdrawals, Grace, who withdrew from public
life after her husband’s death, would write to a CBZ senior manager in charge
of VIP banking identified only as Moyo, who was also her personal banker.
The requests were ritually granted, and Grace’s daughter,
Bona Mugabe-Chikore, would then collect the money from CBZ, investigations
show.
In one instance — on August 15, 2019 — Grace wrote to Moyo
saying: “I wish to withdraw US$300 000 (three hundred thousand United States
dollars from my account: Dr Grace N (Ntombizodwa) Mugabe, Kwame Nkrumah
branch.”
The letter, seen by the Zimbabwe Independent, was signed by
Grace who then sent her emissaries to CBZ to collect the money. The document
was stamped as “copy” by CBZ VIP customer services, Kwame Nkrumah Avenue
(branch), on August 19, 2019 — exactly four days after Grace had made the
request.
It is not clear whether the money was used in Zimbabwe or
outside the country, but this was during the time her late husband Mugabe was
seeking medical treatment at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore where he later
died on September 6, 2019.
The Independent understands that the August 15, 2019 cash
request was made by Grace while she was in Singapore with Mugabe. “As you can
see the letter was scanned and sent on e-mail during her (Grace) stay with
Mugabe who was not well. That is when the cash request was made and it was Bona
who then flew out with the money to Singapore,” a source said.
The hefty withdrawals indicate that Grace was able to
dribble the central bank, which had put stringent caps on individual and
corporate transactions, possibly with the connivance of banking officials.
During that time in 2019, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) had issued directive RU102/2019, which allowed a maximum of US$2 000 cash
movement outside Zimbabwe. RBZ governor John Mangudya told the Independent that
such huge transactions like the Mugabes’ required approval by the Financial
Intelligence Unit (FIU) to check if there was no money laundering and
externalisation.
FIU is the investigating arm of the RBZ which was
established in 2004 in terms of Section 3 of the Bank Use Promotion and
Suppression of Money Laundering Act (Chapter 24:24).
It aims to implement domestic, regional and international
best practices and standards on anti-money laundering and combating the
financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
Mangudya said: “I would need to check as withdrawals above
the stipulated amounts need approval by the FIU to ensure that they fully
comply with anti-money laundering rules and regulations.
Asked what the RBZ was doing to ensure they plug huge cash
withdrawals, the RBZ chief said: “The bank (RBZ) is continuously monitoring
banks’ compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence
(CDD) and best practices of handling cash.”
CBZ group CEO Blessing Mudavanhu declined to answer
questions which he referred to the bank management.
CBZ group executive marketing and corporate affairs manager
Matilda Nyathi said: “CBZ bank adheres to stipulated client withdrawals by the
RBZ. Where a client requires to withdraw above the stipulated amounts, an application
is made on behalf of the client to RBZ for approval prior.”
Grace’s personal banker, Moyo, could not be tracked down
for an explanation.
Grace’s massive cash withdrawals happened two months after
the RBZ had issued a statutory instrument which removed the multi-currency
system that had been introduced in 2009.
“All domestic transactions shall now be settled in Zimbabwe
dollars, the sole legal tender in Zimbabwe which is represented by bond notes
and coins and electronic currency, that is, RTGS dollars. Effectively, the use
of foreign currency to settle domestic transactions has been removed and the
basket of multi-currencies, that is, USD, GBP, ZAR, EUR, BWP, AU$, CNY and
Indian Rupee shall only be used to settle international payments or those
services exempt from this requirement as per Section 3 of Statutory Instrument
142 of 2019,” reads part of the RBZ directive RU102/2019.
As the multi-currency system was scrapped, the transacting
public was allowed to withdraw ZW$300 per week as cash shortages were biting.
This forced hundreds of people to sleep in bank queues as they struggled to
access cash.
While the masses were going through this nightmare, Grace
had the luxury to withdraw a jaw-dropping US$300 000 per day, exposing a
worrying gap between the haves and have-nots in Zimbabwe.
“Grace (Mugabe) made several requests to withdraw huge sums
of money from her CBZ account and she received the money. She would type the
letters to her personal banker Mr Moyo who would then write the account number
using a pen. Bona would then go to the bank to get the cash on behalf of her
mother. That is the level of luxury they enjoyed while the rest of Zimbabweans
were spending several hours to withdraw a paltry ZW$300,” an impeccable source
said.
Grace could not be reached for comment as she was said to
be out of the country, while her daughter Bona’s mobile phone went unanswered. After
Mugabe left office in November 2017, it was revealed that he was receiving
US$20 000 in monthly cash payments and later demanded his pension lump sum of
US$467 200 and US$13 333 in cash.
Grace received instalments of US$2 170 in November and
December 2017, and January and February 2018. This was done during a time when
there were severe cash shortages with ordinary citizens queuing to withdraw
ZW$20.
This exposed Mugabe’s hypocrisy who publicly told
Zimbabweans to embrace bond notes and electronic money while he had the comfort
of accessing cash withdrawals. Late last year, Mnangagwa passed Statutory
Instrument 261 of 2020 for spouses of ex-presidents that guaranteed Grace a
relatively lavish lifestyle.
Under the law, surviving spouses of presidents enjoy
numerous benefits that include a “Mercedes-Benz E300 or one four-wheel-drive
station wagon, or an equivalent or similar class of motor vehicle and one
pick-up van” at a cost of slightly more than US$100 000.
The spouse can also get additional vehicles at the sitting
president’s discretion, even though the number is not specified under the law.
The state has the full responsibility to fuel and service
the vehicles, which will be replaced with a new fleet after every five years.
In addition, the spouse is entitled to a personal
assistant, a fully furnished office, a gardener, at least two security
personnel and a full-time cook, together with “suitable state residential
accommodation for the workers where they would not pay any utility bills”.
Grace, as a surviving spouse, is also entitled to business
class air travel twice a year, in addition to the terminal benefits of her late
husband. Zimbabwe Independent
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