The truth about Nkala, how his political career ended

The Herald of Thursday, May 31, 2012, carried a rather strange article. Long forgotten politician and former Defence Minister, Enos Nkala, furiously lashed out and dismissed as "foolish and silly" those who assessed certain utterances attributed to him in the Press recently as being those of a later-day attention seeker.

He then proceeded to re-invent details about his departure from Government and Zanu-PF in 1989 at the height of the Willowgate Scandal. President Mugabe appointed the Wilson Sandura Commission of Inquiry to investigate this scandal, which involved the acquisition of several motor vehicles from Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries by individuals in Government. The vehicles were then resold at exorbitant prices in a market that was starved of new cars.

The scandal was unearthed by The Chronicle, of which I was editor at the time.

Back in October 1988, Minister Nkala, who was also acting Minister of Home Affairs, raved and ranted on the phone after Davidson Maruziva, then my deputy, called him and politely requested that he explained the circumstances surrounding his acquisition of cars from Willowvale and disposal thereof at stupendous profit.

Nkala was furious and threatened over the phone that he would have Maruziva and me arrested if we chose to pursue this particular case. Elias Mabhena, then deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Commerce, later described the case as a veritable "hot-potato".

On the same day that Maruziva phoned Nkala, I called Zidco Motors, a subsidiary of Zidco Holdings; Zanu-PF's trading company. I had information from sources at Willowvale that several vehicles had been diverted to Zidco on behalf of Nkala. Jayant Manlal Joshi, the managing director of the company and an ally of Nkala, refused at point-blank to answer my questions.

All hell literally broke loose that day.

That evening the countenance of an enraged Nkala appeared on TV during the main ZTV evening news bulletin. Fuming, he referred to me twice as "little Nyarota".

"We will do everything possible to ensure that he is brought to books (sic)", he said of me. I was hurt by the minister's words and terrified by the dire threats of this then exceedingly powerful politician.

Soon afterwards Maruziva and I were suddenly removed from The Chronicle. We therefore never completed our investigation into the several motor vehicles that were allegedly diverted to Zidco on behalf of Nkala. Joshi subsequently left Zimbabwe.

Now 23 years later, as Nkala seeks to initiate a process of re-ingratiation with President Mugabe, after a long spell in the Zimbabwean political wilderness, a totally unrepentant Nkala has the temerity to cast new aspersions on my person. He makes reference to my allegedly diminutive size and that, apparently, of Maruziva and Sandura, as well.

"Like a good Ndebele I felt wounded," The Herald quotes Nkala as telling their Bulawayo correspondent, "ukuthi ngiyethonisiswa ngokungabafana okuncane engakukhululayo ngempi."

Rendered into English this iSiNdebele statement means "I could not wait to be tried by small boys that I liberated".

According to Nkala "good Ndebele" people in positions of leadership cannot be held accountable for their actions. The ethnic connotations of his statement are quite perturbing.

Notwithstanding the fact that Zanu-PF was formed in Nkala's house in 1963, I have never felt liberated by him, personally. I believe I contributed more to the war of liberation than did the former minister. The fact that he never takes time to find out what contribution other Zimbabweans made to the war effort is one of his greatest failings.

In fact, I believe I did more to liberate Nkala from his own shocking arrogance, unadulterated bigotry and his insatiable rapacity than he did to liberate me from any colonial oppression.

If anything, I have been threatened and belittled by him, as well as being deprived of employment in my profession in 1989 as a consequence. I was eventually forced into self-exile in 1994. On return I was locked up at Rhodesville Police Station on a total of six occasions and survived an assassination attempt after I spearheaded the launching of the original Daily News in 1999. This was in a bid to create employment for myself and hundreds of other Zimbabweans.

I am a law-abiding citizen, quietly going about my business in a bid to keep the heads of my family above water in most difficult national economic circumstances. Yet Nkala has now suddenly resurrected from some political cemetery by a journalist who clearly does not conduct any research before he conducts interviews. Now he continues to pour scorn and to cast renewed aspersions on me. But he cannot do so with the impunity he enjoyed in the past.

Nkala told the reporter that he was bitter about the way he was forced to leave politics in 1989.

"I had to resign in anger over the so-called Willowgate Scandal. I still maintain that there is nothing wrong with buying a car and selling it for a little profit. That is business," Nkala says.

If he genuinely believes in these sentiments, he should have said so before Justice Sandura.

In the circumstances and context of his utterances, as reported in The Herald, it becomes patently clear that the former minister's recollection of events is now seriously impaired. For example, Nkala's claim that he chose to resign from Government rather than appear before the Sandura Commission is totally inconsistent with the facts.

Not only he but his wife, Mrs Thandiwe Nkala, as well did submit themselves to full interrogation before the illustrious Justice Wilson Sandura. In concert with other ministers who were summoned to appear before the Sandura Commission, the couple falsified facts as they gave evidence.

Nkala and his wife had originally informed the commission that they had sold her car, a new Toyota Cressida, to her employers at the official price of $29 000. The commission would have closed inconclusively on the basis of false evidence led by the accused ministers, had the good Mrs Nkala, a devout born-again Christian, not had a change of heart and decided to spill the beans.

The couple had, in fact, sold the vehicle for a whopping $90 000, she disclosed. Today Nkala ludicrously claims that selling a $29 000 vehicle for $90 000 is "selling it for a little profit".

Mrs Nkala told the stunned court that she and her husband had conspired to concoct the evidence they initially led before the commission.

Nkala and the rest of his co-accused were called back to appear before the commission again. It was then established that they had collectively lied before Justice Sandura. They were, therefore found guilty of perjury.

Perjury is a crime that occurs when an individual willfully makes a false statement during a judicial proceeding, after he or she has taken an oath to speak the truth.

Nkala and his fellow errant ministers were thus forced to resign.

This is the full truth about how Nkala's political career came to a premature but very irrevocable end in March 1989.

Nkala announced more than two years ago that he is writing a book about Zanu-PF and himself. If what appeared in The Herald last week is the version of events that he is packing into the manuscript, then it is easy to understand why he is not keen to have the book published while he is still alive.

Meanwhile, Nkala should open his Bible and refer to 1 Samuel, Chapter 17, Verses 20-58. There he will read the amazing story of how the diminutive David defeated the giant Goliath. This will teach him a useful lesson about humility.

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Geoffrey Nyarota is the chief executive officer of Buffalo Communication (Pvt) Ltd. He is the founding editor of The Daily News and was previously the editor of The Chronicle.