State withdraws case against Minister Mangoma

The state has withdrawn its case at the High Court against the MDC-T Deputy Treasurer-General and Energy and Power Development Minister, Elton Mangoma who was facing corruption charges in a tender deal involving the purchase of electricity meters. Mangoma was arrested early this year and the trial was to start at the High Court today.

However, before the start of the trial, Chris Mutangadura of the Attorney-General's Office indicated that the state was withdrawing from prosecuting Mangoma.

A few weeks ago Mangoma was acquitted at the High Court on charges of purchasing five million litres of fuel from a South African company in order to save a national crisis as the country had run out of fuel stocks. Mangoma was arrested twice this year and remanded in custody for close to two weeks for the two trumped-up charges.

In a statement by MDC-T Information departments, the party said "The MDC stands vindicated that the concocted charges against Mangoma were political and that his only crime was that he is a senior MDC official.
 
Mangoma's acquittal is an indictment on the person and office of the Attorney-General who has wasted the taxpayer's money in besmirching and persecuting an innocent Zimbabwean. It is no wonder that the so-called abuse of office charges against Mangoma have failed to stick, just as similar cases against thousands of MDC activists have crumbled like a deck of cards over the past 12 years."