BY MOSES MATENGA
THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption yesterday said it was investigating allegations of corruption levelled against business tycoons and President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s allies Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Billy Rautenbach and Tafadzwa Musarara by suspended Zanu PF youth league bosses.
Zacc spokesperson John Makamure said Lewis Matutu and Godfrey Tsenengamu filed a report on Tuesday last week with the commission but were told to bring evidence, and that the anti-graft body was investigating the allegations while waiting for more information.
“They came the following day after their first Press conference (last week Monday) and we listened to them. We requested for any evidence that they might have. We are waiting for that evidence,” Makamure said.
“We said they should assist us with any evidence, not to say we are not investigating, we are investigating. If anyone makes a report, we investigate. We request those who file complaints to also assist with evidence. It makes our job easier.”
“We met them, we asked for evidence and we are waiting for that evidence, not to say we are not looking into that issue, no,” he added.
On Friday, Tsenengamu claimed they had submitted evidence to Zacc at a Press conference that was not attended by Matutu.
The naming of the business tycoons as part of the cartels bleeding the country’s economy has shaken the ruling Zanu PF party amid reports that there were some elements in the party who were compromised and benefitting from alleged corrupt activities.
Others said the fight was a factional Zanu PF war hence the divisions that rocked the Zanu PF politburo meeting last week.
Politburo member Christopher Mutsvangwa suggested, at the weekend, that part of the fight was over control of the Feruka oil pipeline and attempts to wrest it from the cartel.
“There is the denial to Zimbabwe of an eponymous financial and logistics service industry as it carters for the sub region. Limpopo and other northern regions of South Africa would be drinking from Mabvuku. Just as traditional clients Congo and Zambia, southern Malawi and central Mozambique,” Mutsvangwa said of the benefits of the pipeline to Zimbabwe if “rescued” from the cartel.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed acting Zanu PF secretary for administration in the youth league, Tendai Chirau said the war against corruption will not be won overnight and needed empirical evidence from those who claim it.
“The youth league remains deeply and heartily perturbed about the calamitous effects of corruption on the national economic growth and recovery. We are genuinely aware of the existence of institutions which are constitutionally mandated to combat corruption such as the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and Special Anti-Corruption Unit to aid the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the National Prosecution Authority and the Judicial Services Commission,” Chirau said.
“It is against this background that the youth league, as a vanguard of the ruling Zanu PF, we petition for perseverance from our patriotic youth since such an arduous fight cannot be won overnight. It must be borne in mind that most corruption cases fail on account of dearth of empirical evidence,” he said.
However, senior Zacc officials told NewsDay that the commission has forwarded over 100 dockets to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which was reportedly sitting on them.
“The criminal justice system has loopholes and this is slowing down how we as Zacc deliver, especially at the NPA, that is where the big problem is,” said a source who refused to be named.
