Zimbabwe NGO Director flees amid $1.4 million embezzlement scandal

Judith Musvosvi, country director of the global humanitarian organisation Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA) in Zimbabwe, has fled the country following revelations of her alleged involvement in a $1.4 million embezzlement scheme that now threatens to collapse ADRA's local operations.

The 65-year-old executive disappeared just days after ADRA's finance director, Fortune Goredema, was arrested on charges of fraud. Church insiders revealed that Musvosvi travelled from Zimbabwe by bus to South Africa before making her way to Eastern Europe. She reportedly told friends that she was attending her niece's wedding, but sources close to the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church said she was tipped off by powerful contacts about her impending arrest.

The scandal came to light after ADRA International, which coordinates relief programs in over 120 countries, received an anonymous whistleblower report in July 2022. A forensic audit conducted jointly by the SDA's General Conference Auditing Service and the international accounting firm Baker Tilly uncovered significant financial irregularities. The audit found that Goredema had falsified records to embezzle over $1.2 million intended for tax payments to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and diverted an additional $160,000 meant for pension contributions to the National Social Security Authority (NSSA). Between 2023 and 2024, Goredema also overpaid himself by nearly $120,000.

Musvosvi, who has led ADRA Zimbabwe since 2013, was found complicit in the fraud. Auditors confirmed she authorised multiple fraudulent transactions and personally benefited from "undue payments and personal loans" in clear violation of ADRA's financial policies.

The financial mismanagement has pushed ADRA Zimbabwe to the brink, creating a massive tax liability and causing critical overdue payments that threaten the continuation of essential aid programs. These programs include support for food security, healthcare services, and assistance to vulnerable groups such as people living with HIV.

Attempts to reach Pastor Zibusiso Ndlovu, executive secretary of the SDA North Zimbabwe Union — which oversees the Harare region — for comment were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Musvosvi's husband, Jonathan Musvosvi, an active SDA pastor in Zimbabwe, has not been subject to any disciplinary action as yet.

Musvosvi's flight to Romania complicates efforts to bring her to justice, as Zimbabwe lacks an extradition treaty with the Eastern European country. Legal experts suggest that Interpol could be engaged in pursuing the matter internationally.

"This isn't just theft - it's a betrayal of the world's poorest," said a Harare-based aid coordinator familiar with ADRA's work in Zimbabwe.

The scandal also rekindles past controversies, notably when ADRA Zimbabwe was targeted for takeover by controversial petroleum magnate Kudakwashe Tagwirei. Musvosvi reportedly did not oppose a greater role for Tagwirei, an influential SDA "elder," in the organisation, but the move failed to gain consensus. When that effort collapsed, Tagwirei launched his own Bridging Gaps Foundation (BGF), which lacks ADRA's reach and standing within Zimbabwe's nearly one million-strong SDA community spanning 2,523 churches — a position Tagwirei continues to covet.

The fallout from this scandal threatens to undermine trust in one of Zimbabwe's most respected humanitarian organisations and raises urgent questions about governance and accountability in the country's aid sector.