War vets name drop Mphoko's name for personal gains

A leader of a faction of the war veterans and Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial secretary for security, George Mlala, has been accused of dropping Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko's name to milk companies in the city, while clandestinely funding the opposition National People's Party (NPP) led by Joice Mujuru.

The allegations are contained in a letter sent to War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube by the former operations manager of Bulk Commodities t/a as Cash and Carry, Oga Chafausipo Moyo.

In the four-page letter, Moyo alleges Mlala has been siphoning money from the company in exchange for protection.
Moyo alleged that Mlala would go to the company, which imports flour and maize for resale, to allegedly collect money on behalf of Zanu-PF, which he would convert to his personal use.

The company, owned by Imran Shahzad, has been under investigations by the police, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and Bulawayo City Council (BCC) over allegations of illegally importing expired flour, maize and other commodities.
Moyo alleged most of the agencies were bribed off.

BCC allegedly confiscated contaminated flour, but it was allegedly returned after Mlala intervened.

"City health inspectors only monitored the loading of one truck of flour, which was destroyed, but the remaining 10 trucks of mealie meal and flour were not destroyed, but were repackaged and sold because some people were paid protection fees and some Zanu-PF party cadres were paid up to $35 000, which was said to be going to be handed over to Mphoko for protection," read part of the letter.

"The money was given to a man called George, who was driving a white Nissan Hard Body without number plates and was said to be going to the Vice-President.

"As a manager at the company, I suspected that he was using problems at our company to extort money from us. I then did investigations and I discovered that he was from Zanu-PF and his surname was Mlala. I learnt recently that they are now funding the Mujuru party."

But Mlala denied the allegations saying he did not have any links with Shahzad and had never collected money on behalf of Mphoko or funded Mujuru's party.

"This comes as a shock to me. It's pure lies, yes I drive a Nissan Hard Body, which was given to me by Zanu-PF, but I don't know of the things you are talking about," he said.

Dube confirmed receiving the letter, but refused to comment, saying he would hand it over to responsible authorities.

Shahzad said some Zanu-PF members had targeted his business, which resulted in party youths demonstrating against his operations last year.

"There are Zanu-PF-linked people who borrowed money from me. I gave them money, now they don't want to pay back so they are now using all sorts of dirty tricks to try and force me to back down from demanding my money," he said.

Shahzad confirmed that he was investigated over allegations of underhand dealings, but has been cleared because he was law-abiding.

"I have been investigated by everyone, but I am still here still open and doing business. You don't know the forces working against me," he said.

Mujuru denied receiving money from Mlala, saying it was a big joke that Zanu-PF could fund NPP operations.

"Zanu-PF has no capacity to fund a mass-based party like NPP. No amount of besmirching can ever stop the people's train. Put simply, Satanists and Christians do not attend the same congregation," Mujuru's spokesperson Gift Nyandoro said.