Jonathan Moyo faces fraud charges

As Zanu-PF's deadly factional and succession wars continue to burn red hot, it has emerged that Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo and his deputy Godfrey Gandawa are facing serious fraud, money laundering and criminal abuse of office charges which could see them hauled before the courts in the next few days.

Papers in the possession of the Daily News suggest that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has since July this year been investigating allegations of corruption and fraudulent activities at the Higher Education ministry and the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) which falls under Moyo and Gandawa's purview.

The anti-corruption commission is alleging that Moyo, Gandawa and Zimdef chief executive Frederick Mandizvidza are at the centre of the alleged multiple corrupt and fraudulent activities running into tens of thousands of dollars.

Concerted efforts to get comments from Moyo, Gandawa, Mandizvidza and Zacc before the Daily News went to print last night drew blanks. But sources sympathetic to Moyo claimed that the allegations were part of "malicious manoeuvres" by Moyo's Zanu-PF enemies to destroy him and his allies.

"Listen, this is definitely not about corruption or fraud. It's about the ongoing bloodletting in the party, as well as attempts by Team Lacoste (the Zanu-PF faction rallying behind Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa) using its control of key State apparatus to destroy all G40-linked comrades," a perceived close ally of Moyo said.

Moyo and Gandawa are featured together on counts 2, 7 and 8 of the charge sheet prepared by Zaac, with count 2 alleging that the minister was a beneficiary of bicycles that he donated to his constituency in Tsholotsho after Gandawa allegedly siphoned $95 800 from Zimdef and deposited it into the account of a company run by a relative of his.

"The four accused persons (Moyo, Gandawa, Mandizvidza and a Shepherd Honzeri), acting in connivance and with criminal intent to defraud Zimdef, transferred $95 800 from Zimdef to Wisebone Trading purportedly for the purchase of 10x3 Dimension printers meant for distribution to the engineering departments of eight polytechnic and two industrial training colleges in the country.

"Wisebone Trading is a company that is into agro-chemicals and engineering and is not in any way into information and communication technology.

"After the money was transferred to Wisebone Trading, CABS Account Number 9016491588, accused 1 (Gandawa) caused Walter Chasara the then director of Wisebone Trading to withdraw part of the money in cash and hand it over to him.

"The accused persons later caused the transfer of $70 430, being the balance after the cash withdrawals, into accused 1's company, Fuzzy Technologies' NMB Bank account number 280071258, domiciled at Avondale Branch.

"The accused persons later caused several cash withdrawals from accused 1's NMB bank account. Sometime in December 2015, accused 3 (Honzeri) approached HIB Rajput PL, trading as Ace Cycles, a company in Bulawayo which deals with cycles, and placed an order for the purchase of 173 gents bicycles," Zacc said.

The anti-corruption body also alleges that the quartet had transferred $19 030 from Mandizvidza's account to Ace Cycles, as payment for the cycles - with Honzeri allegedly further purchasing 62 gents and four ladies' bicycles and transferring $7 260 to Ace Cycles.

"The bicycles were later collected and handed over to accused 4 (Moyo) for distribution in Tsholotsho. When the accused persons made this misrepresentation they knew that the money was not meant for the purchase of the said printers ... As a result of this misrepresentation, Zimdef suffered an actual prejudice of $95 800 and nothing was recovered," Zacc added.

"Zimbabwe Manpower Planning and Development Act Chapter 28:02, which governs Zimdef has no provision for personal loans. On 19 October 2015, the deputy minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Sciences and Technology . . . G Gandawa corruptly applied on behalf of the trustee . . . J Moyo a personal loan for $24 000 which was later processed by Mandizvidza.

"The money was then deposited into the trustee's personal bank account. . . . Gandawa applied for the loan and . . . Mandizvidza ... authorised it knowing that it falls outside the mandate of the fund. On the other hand, the trustee benefited illegally and the three acted unlawfully. Zimdef was prejudiced of $24 000 and it was recovered," it said.

On Count 8, Moyo, Gandawa and Honzeri stand accused of violating the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act, Chapter 9:24, which relates to how the $95 800 was withdrawn from the Zimdef account.

In a cryptic tweet early yesterday on microblogging site Twitter, Moyo said he was "Recharging for the big fight!" while replying to a message from Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere who had wished him a speedy recovery from a heavy bout of flu which had laid him low, and which had seen him miss the official opening of Parliament by President Robert Mugabe.

Earlier, Moyo had similarly tweeted: "Everyone knows who the thieving tribalists & murderers are. If you don't know them you are a fool or one of them. Down with tribalism! ... Factionalists, successionists & tribalists reckon they can get away with corrupting & abusing institutions & due processes! #HandeiTione!".

The spokesperson of former Vice President Joice Mujuru's Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) party, Jealousy Mawarire - who has had running political battles with Moyo for some time - had also alleged on Twitter on Wednesday that Zacc intended to swoop on Moyo after the minister allegedly failed to heed the commission's request for him to report at its offices on Tuesday.

Moyo immediately hit back at Mawarire, denying the claim and implying that Zacc commissioners were abusing their positions.

"Factionalists, secessionists (and) tribalists reckon they can get away with corrupting (and) abusing institutions (and) due processes," he wrote on Twitter.

Only last week, the Daily News reported that the Zanu-PF faction rallying behind Mnangagwa's mooted presidential aspirations, which had for months been on the receiving end of a ruthless pummelling from its ruling party foes, was said to have wrestled back the initiative in the former liberation movement's seemingly unstoppable factional and succession wars.

Well-placed sources told the newspaper that Team Lacoste, as the Mnangagwa camp is known, appeared to have weathered the storm in the ruling party's brutal dog-fight to succeed President Robert Mugabe - with their nemesis, the Generation 40 (G40) group, the one whose alleged kingpins were now under serious pressure.

"The struggle continues, and we (Lacoste camp) are still standing. In fact, we are going strong again. If you have been watching what's going on in the past few weeks, you will also have seen that our enemies (G40) are now the ones who are on the back foot," a senior Zanu-PF official linked to the VP's faction said.

At the same time, analysts and insiders told the Daily News then that Team Lacoste was well-positioned to pick up all the spoils in the event that Mugabe left office before the end of his term, ahead of the eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections.

However, a Zanu-PF bigwig who spoke to the Daily News expressed the fear that should such an eventuality happen, it would spawn political chaos in the country - although he was also quick to add that Team Lacoste would enjoy many advantages at that point.

"It's true that it's dog-eat-dog in Zanu-PF right now because of that constitutional clause (which says the last acting president will temporarily take charge of the country).

"The aspect of the last acting president taking over from Gushungo (Mugabe) has given the party headaches because it has become a gambling Game of Thrones, with both factions wishing to capitalise on this.

"Even though whoever takes over temporarily will have to seek internal (Zanu-PF) endorsement within 90 days, Team Lacoste also has an upper hand here as it already has strong structures throughout the country.

"At any rate, there is no one of similar political weight to Ngwena (Mnangagwa) in the other camp who can go toe-to-toe with him if Gushungo is not there," the party bigwig who claims to be non-aligned in its ugly ructions said.