Mnangagwa goes after dirty Zimbabwean tycoons

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government has launched a fresh crackdown against all powerful people stand accused of amassing wealth irregularly.

It is reported that a comprehensive list of targeted political and business elites has already been put together, which will result in some of the bigwigs being charged if they fail to proffer a sound explanation as to how they acquired their wealth.

Zinara's acting chief executive officer Ms Mathlene Mujokoro and audit manager Mr Shadreck Matengabadza have resigned, while 19 employees have been arrested for fraud cases involving more than US$210 000, as the dragnet on corporate malfeasance closes in on corrupt officials.

More arrests are expected as investigations continue.

Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) chief executive Morris Bekezela Mpofu was picked up for questioning by the police, while finance director Charles Gambe was arrested for criminal abuse of office after he allegedly bought 1 200 bags of cement at Lafarge Cement for personal use using employer's account.
In 2018, President Mnangagwa's the then advisor Christopher Mutsvangwa launched an astonishing attack against Zanu-PF benefactor Kudakwashe Tagwirei.

Mutsvangwa also revealed that Tagwirei was being given preferential treatment in the allocation of foreign currency for the importation of fuel, which he said had created a monopoly in the fuel industry.

The war veterans' leader and one of the president's top allies' outbursts came amid reports that relations between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga had become sour.

Tagwirei, who owns Sakunda and has several controversial deals with the government, was thrust into the vortex of the infighting last week after Zanu-PF apologist William Mutumanje, aka Acie Lumumba, claimed he was at the centre of a fuel cartel that included top Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) officials.

Mnangagwa didn't know the extent of corruption in the country until he took up the highest office in the land.

Speaking in a televised interview aired by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) on the eve of the country's Independence Day celebrations on April 18, he conceded that his anti-graft fight has not been successful.

"Corruption is deep rooted. I thought by making a pronouncement that ‘let us fight corruption' it will go away. No. It's not like that. To fight corruption, you need the police to investigate but there are elements of corruption in the police.

"Once you get past the corruption in the police, the National Prosecution Authority has to prosecute, but there are also elements of corruption in the NPA.

"Then the case must go to court and there are also elements that are corrupt in the judiciary. So the fight is so wide and deep," he said.

Zimbabwe ranked 160th out of 175 countries according to the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International.

Mnangagwa expressed frustration at the "slow" pace courts were dealing with corruption cases.

In his first few months after dethroning Mugabe in November 2017, Mnangagwa released a list of people and companies that allegedly externalised US$827m. However, the list was criticised for allegedly leaving out the "big fish" involved in corruption.

To date, no one has been successfully prosecuted.