Chiyangwa ally sparks verbal war against rival empowerment lobby group

A WAR of words has erupted between officials aligned to two rival indigenous empowerment lobby groupings, the Affirmative Action Group (AAG) and newly-launched Economic Empowerment Group (EEG).

AAG was founded by maverick property mogul, Phillip Chiyangwa, whose close ally, Ellison Simbanegavi, at the weekend took potshots at EEG led by Mike Chimombe.

Together with his leadership, Chimombe  was recently fired from the helm of AAG and went on to form EEG.

Following the fallout, Simbanegavi says he was removed from social media groups for refusing to hail EEG's formation.

He went on to launch a scathing attack on the new EEG executive, labeling it corrupt.

"I, personally, do not believe the crew that says EEG is a new thing as long as the same old executives who were dismissed by Dr. Chiyangwa remain at the helm of the new formation. The public should know that the former AAG presidium, now EEG top brass, and all the provincial chairpersons, were fired for abuse of funds. Pakadyiwa mari (money was fleeced) and there was gross abuse of office," said Simbanegavi.

He said EEG was a rebellious formation, formed to push personal agendas.

"I respect Chimombe, but am strongly against the fraudulent advisers surrounding him. In case you did not know, EEG was not Mike's idea, but he is just being used as the face of EEG in order to lure publics somehow."

Simbanegavi singled out former AAG Mashonaland West chairman, Tapiwa Chikondowa, as corrupt.

"I will mention Tapiwa Chikondowa as a bad leader, obviously to the surprise of many, because l saw it during his time how he would fend for money in the pretext of AAG programmes, but for all the moneys collected, he never accounted for a single dollar. Moneys have been collected in the name of AAG by the same person, but many may not know where these funds ended up," he alleged.

Chikondowa could not be drawn to comment when contacted by NewZimbabwe.com.

"I am in shock, no comment," said Chikondowa.

The Empower Bank facility, meant to uplift youths, benefitted the former AAG and now EEG leadership, further alleged Simbanegavi.

The new EEG outfit was reportedly hijacking AAG groups and structures to further its selfish interests.

Contacted for comment, Clifford Hlupeko, EEG secretary-general, described the verbal attack on EEG as coming from elements scared of competition.

"The remnants of the defunct AAG are running scared. In fact, the AAG Mash West SG is too sick to write this and he lacks capacity. It is Anastancia Ndhlovu trying to blackmail our new organisation. But let it be known that it is just a dog barking to an elephant. We are tsunami and unstoppable," charged Hlupeko.

"Their destructive tactics will never deviate our focus and purpose. The allegations levelled against the leadership of EEG are vague. The founder of AAG is the signatory to the account. All AAG funds were channelled through the same account. So in your sober mind, who would abuse funds? We left all funds in the hands of Phillip Chiyangwa."

Hlupeko challenged Simbanegavi to report to police anyone suspected of having abused funds belonging to AAG, which he described as "Chiyangwa' family trust."

"We have moved on and will not listen to trash. We left the family trust of Phillip Chiyangwa and formed a people driven organisation."

Efforts to get comment from Chiyangwa were fruitless by the time of publishing.