Mnangagwa talks tough on graft

ANY person who engages in any form of corruption will be arrested and prosecuted as no one is above the law, President Mnangagwa has said.

Posting on his Twitter handle, the President, who has declared zero tolerance to corruption since coming to office in 2017 and has led an anti-graft crusade that has claimed the scalps of Government ministers and directors, said there were no excuses when it comes to graft.

"Let me be very clear. If you engage in or promote corruption, you will be arrested and prosecuted. There are no excuses for corruption. No one is above the law," he said.

This comes as the Government has expressed concern with growing cases of name-dropping whereby some people claim to be connected to critical offices in order to evade arrests.

Particularly, the First Family has suffered the most from name-dropping as unscrupulous elements have often evoked names of members to wriggle themselves from arrests.

On Sunday, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa had to issue a statement after a man who is implicated in the gold smuggling case involving Henrietta Rushwaya falsely claimed that members of the First Family were involved.

And comprehensive investigations that were carried by the police have since established that the accused man Gift Karanda, lied to police officers in order to obstruct or defeat the course of justice.

In a statement, the police confirmed that Karanda was now facing charges of contravening the Criminal Codification and Reform Act "Defeating or Obstructing the Course of Justice".

"He is also facing charges of contravening section 3(1)(a) of the gold Trade Act (Chapter 21;03), dealing in and possession of gold without being a holder of a licence permit and also contravening section 182(1) of the Customs and Excise Act (Chapter 23;02), smuggling.

"This relates to the utterances to law enforcement officers at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on October 26, 2020, when he indicated that there was no case as the gold belonged to First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa and her son Collins Mnangagwa. Comprehensive investigations have proved that the statement by Gift Karanda was false and malicious with intent to defeat or obstruct the course of justice. As such he was accordingly charged and the case is pending before the courts," said Senior Assistant Commissioner Nyathi.

In a statement on Sunday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana, also warned the public against abusing the First Family's name to carry out illegal activities.

"His Excellency, President Mnangagwa has demonstrated his zero tolerance stance on corruption and organised crime. On her part, the First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, has distanced herself and the family from any of the suspects involved in the gold smuggling case. "All security apparatus have standing orders to enforce the law blinded to who a person is, knows or is related to. The law itself has adequate provisions to deal with those who interfere with its application or processes," said Mr Mangwana.

Those who tried to defeat the course of justice by invoking names of powerful or influential people would face the full wrath of the law.

"Government would like to urge citizens to report all suspected cases of crime and corruption to relevant law enforcement agencies and not manipulate such cases for political clout using falsehoods and innuendo," he said.