Jonathan Moyo's allies savage Zacc

Allies of under-siege Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo - who is facing a slew of damaging corruption charges - have hit back at the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc), declaring defiantly that they will continue to use State resources in service of the country, President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF.

The declaration comes as a Harare vendor has filed a High Court application seeking to have Moyo arrested over the corruption allegations, which have sharpened Zanu-PF's tribal, factional and succession divisions, while also exposing the ruling party's gross abuse of State resources.

Meanwhile, the Tsholotsho North legislator, who is said to be a key member of the ruling party faction going by the moniker Generation 40 (G40) - which is bitterly opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe - has accused Team Lacoste (Mnangagwa faction) and key players at Zacc of waging a factionally-driven war against him.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Norton on Thursday, Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko and Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere,  both of whom are linked to the G40, told gathered party supporters that it was wrong for Zacc to charge Moyo with corruption..

"Shefu kana muchitisungira kutora mari ku-defender hurumende (If you arrest us for using money to defend the government) we are prepared to go to prison. Arrest us now.

"But we will never be afraid to defend Zanu-PF, to defend Mugabe and to defend the revolution," Kasukuwere declared at the rally to drum up support for the party's parliamentary candidate for next weekend's keenly-contested by-election.

"(Goodson) Nguni you are a sell-out. I am saying it here and if there is a problem I am saying it now. Nguni you are a sell-out. You want to come out with dockets against your own party members? … We are watching you.

"Wakanga uri we MDC (you once belonged to the MDC). You are not a Zanu-PF man. We are not going back. We are angry and we are warning you," the fuming Kasukuwere added.

Mphoko told the same gathering that Zacc was being disrespectful to Mugabe by pursuing Moyo, also launching a withering attack on Nguni and describing him as a thief.

"This Nguni being talked about who is he?  He is a crook, a thief, a wanted someone wanted by Interpol … and then that man wants to arrest a Zimbabwean.

"To arrest someone who is supporting Zanu-PF, you cannot do it unless you are a Rhodesian. Chekai munhu uyu (watch and vet this guy). How can you challenge your president? You cannot do that unless you are a Rhodesian," Mphoko thundered.

Interestingly for political watchers, Mnangagwa - who doesn't see eye to eye with Moyo - bluntly told his Cabinet colleagues in Parliament on Wednesday that they were not above the law and that they would be prosecuted when there were reasonable grounds to suspect that they had committed crimes.

"There is no other means to fight corruption except the laws of this country.  We do have an Anti-Corruption Commission which is a product of this House and they were empowered to fight corruption.

"Apart from that law, we have several other laws that deal with people who commit offences. If you murder someone you are arrested, if you fight you are arrested, if you steal you are arrested.

"What the Honourable Member (MP) should bear in mind is that . . . no one has immunity except the president.  Everyone else in this country is fair game. They are not above the law. There is no one who is above the law," Mnangagwa said, while responding to questions regarding the Zimdef scandal that has made Moyo's life a living hell over the past few weeks.

On its part, Zacc itself said on Thursday that it was stepping up its plans to prosecute Moyo, while also making damning allegations against some of the country's top journalists, claiming that they were recipients and beneficiaries of unexplained large sums of money from Zimdef.

"We have sent a letter to him and expect him to respond to us immediately by coming to our offices. He should come here so that he responds to our allegations. We are not going to go to his offices or house.

"He had promised that he was going to come to our offices so that we could put the allegations to him and hear his comments, but he has been running away from us, preferring to give interviews to the media," Nguni, the tough-talking Zacc chairperson of investigations told journalists in Harare.

Moyo and his deputy Godfrey Gandawa face serious fraud, money laundering and criminal abuse of office charges, including claims that the Zanu-PF politburo member benefited from Zimdef donations that involved the purchase of bicycles which he donated to his Tsholotsho North constituency -all of which Zacc alleges was not done above board.

The ensuing graft storm has not only exposed Zanu-PF's nasty tribal, factional and succession fissures, but also the former liberation movement's gross abuse of State resources to advance its interests and those of its senior officials.

There have since been growing calls for Moyo to be prosecuted for the alleged corruption with both opposition parties and ordinary Zimbabweans furiously wading into the saga.

A Harare vendor, Hardlife Mudzingwa, has also filed a lawsuit at the High Court seeking to have Moyo arrested over the allegations that he swindled Zimdef out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mudzingwa wants police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri to be compelled and directed to arrest Moyo, whom he says has admitted to stealing from Zimdef by likening himself to Robin Hood.

"I must make the point that first respondent seems to plead guilty to the allegations raised. He calls himself Robin Hood. I understand that Robin Hood is famed for stealing from the rich and distributing the proceeds to the poor.

"He also seems to suggest that he is not the only one involved in this kind of misconduct. He sees a tribal hand in the fact that the allegations have been made. This is unfortunate.

"The upshot of his response is to confirm the fact that a prima facie case against him exists," Mudzingwa says in his court papers.