Mugabe to decide on Sandi Moyo as woes mount

THE fate of beleaguered Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Nomthandazo Sandi Moyo's continued stay in Government will be decided solely by President Mugabe who is the appointing authority, an official has said.

Sandi Moyo buckled from pressure and threw in the towel as Deputy Secretary for Zanu-PF Women's League last week after nationwide demonstrations were held against her and now former Secretary for Finance, Sarah Mahoka.

She, however, remains the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Bulawayo. Sandi Moyo, together with Mahoka, was facing a litany of charges among them embezzling party's funds and undermining the authority of the League Secretary Dr Grace Mugabe.

In the wake of Sandi Moyo's position, the Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial executive had indicated that they will sit down and recommend that Sandi Moyo be recalled from her Government post. However, in an interview yesterday, Zanu-PF national spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo said it remained the President's prerogative to remove ministers from their posts.

"The issue as to whether she will remain minister or not rests with the President. It's not for me to say. That's purely the President's prerogative," said Khaya Moyo.

He said what he could only reaffirm were resolutions passed on the two by the Politburo that they were supposed to return the money they siphoned from the party and that they be relieved of their duties in the Women's League.

The development comes amid pressure from the province for Sandi Moyo to be relieved of her duties as Provincial Minister.

The provincial executive feels that her reputation has been battered and that it was now untenable for her to continue as minister.

Although she has resigned from her Women's League post, Sandi Moyo maintains that she is innocent and called on the league to provide evidence linking her to the charges she is facing.

Her partner Mahoka is facing other charges of denigrating Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa and questioning the authority of Presidential spokesperson George Charamba who are all appointees of the President.

Meanwhile, our Harare Bureau reports that Zanu-PF will press criminal charges against Sandi Moyo and Mahoka if they fail to remit the US$100 000-plus which they allegedly extorted using Zanu-PF and First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe's names.

In Mashonaland Central, the revolutionary party's provincial executive is pursuing a case of possible fraud in which a top official (name withheld) allegedly duped Zanu-PF of thousands of dollars in membership subscriptions and dodgy asset disposals.

These and other grievances from Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association provincial leaders will be submitted to the national Zanu-PF leadership in keeping with President Mugabe's counsel at a Central Committee meeting in Harare last Friday.

The veterans want National Political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and his step-brother, Dickson Mafios, punished for setting up parallel party structures and indiscipline, among other charges.

Ambassador Simon Khaya told our Harare Bureau that prosecution loomed large for  Moyo and Mahoka.

The duo is said to have collected money from local church leaders in the party's name and then kept it for themselves.