Zanu-PF youths in 'name & shame'

Published: 25 June 2019

IN what seems to expose fault lines in the ruling party, the Zanu-PF Youth League released the long-awaited list of individuals it claimed were involved in corrupt activities.

The list fell short on detail, thus failing to live up to expectations.

Comprising serving and ex-Cabinet ministers, bureaucrats, senior Zanu officials and businessmen, the list appeared to be part of a smear campaign bereft of any supporting evidence.

Zanu-PF Youth League deputy secretary Lewis Matutu said they do not need to produce evidence to back their claims unless if it was in court.

Addressing a press conference at the party's headquarters in the capital yesterday, Matutu accused Cabinet ministers Priscah Mupfumira and Joram Gumbo as well as Zanu-PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu and Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda, for being involved in corrupt activities.

The youth league said Mupfumira must give her side of the story on untested allegations of corruption at the National Social Security Authority during her tenure as Labour and Social Services minister.

On Mudenda, they demanded that the respected Speaker explain "failure" by Parliament to table a report on allegations of corruption at the Zimbabwe National Road Administration.

Matutu also named Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya, the Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya and Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairperson Tafadzwa Musarara, among people also involved in corrupt activities.

"From all the individuals that will be exposed today, we are demanding a public statement that exonerates all allegations against the accused. Our forefathers... fought for our liberation against the imperialists. The fight for social and economic justice is in our capable hands; each generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it. Every generation has its defining moment, this is ours," Matutu told journalists.

He said the youth league was giving an ultimatum to the party bigwigs implicated in the alleged acts of corruption a week to clear their names.

"We are giving them up to next week to release statements clearing their names. Starting tomorrow (today) we are going to lock their offices. We want to clean our party," Matutu said.

However, the accusations were strongly rejected by those the Daily News succeeded in soliciting for their responses. Rushwaya sensationally claimed yesterday that Matutu was hitting back on her after she spurned his request for favours.

"Matutu asked for mining equipment from me on Friday and I told him to produce a mining certificate and if that makes me a cartel leader, then so be it. I even warned him against doing things in a manner they were used to because the new government is against corrupt leadership.

"Econet can even print out Matutu's incoming call to me on Friday around 15.30hrs. Our equipment is not for Zanu-PF Youth League chefs (bosses), it's for miners. My lawyers are suing for defamation," an angry Rushwaya told the Daily News.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Mangudya dismissed the allegations as baseless, saying the apex bank will be consulting its lawyers to advise on the legal route they can take against those smearing the institution's name.

"The allegations are baseless. We will consult our legal team for appropriate remedies," said Mangudya yesterday.

On his part Mpofu said: "I haven't seen any statement so I will not comment on that issue. I am out of Harare".

Mudenda said the youth league had to prove its allegations.

"It's a figment of imagination by whoever is making those allegations. They have to prove it," said the Speaker of Parliament.

Musarara said he was yet to get information on the youth league's allegations.

Gumbo and Mupfumira were not reachable.

Apart from naming the politicians and top government officials, the youth league also listed several individuals who included children of former Cabinet minister Christopher Mutsvangwa who dismissed "the allegations with the "contempt they deserve".

Curiously, the allegations coincided with a fundamental policy statement by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and the RBZ, outlawing the multi-currency regime and declaring the Zimbabwe dollar as the only medium of exchange to be used in all local transactions.

Suspicions have it that the allegations, which appear to exonerate the opposition, whites and the Chinese in corrupt activities, have undertones of factional fights within Zanu-PF whereupon those behind the claims could be seeking to control strategic positions at the RBZ, Parliament and Zanu-PF headquarters.

It also excludes names of deep-pocketed businessmen for long accused of dabbling in parallel market activities.
- dailynews

Tags: Zanu-PF,