BY FORTUNE MBELE

HIGHLANDERS coach Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh is wary of the threat posed by FC Platinum ahead of the Chibuku Super Cup quarter-final match at Barbourfields Stadium tomorrow.

“I have respect for FC Platinum; they are organised. The club has big ambitions shown in the last two years where they had great international success. The club is professional and has quality players. The way they handle a lot of things is very professional, but I believe in my players and my selection,” De Jongh said.

He added: “I have been in charge of six matches – four wins and two draws. They were not easy games. I hope a lot of fans will come and also hope for a good result, but it is going to be a tough game. I know the opponents are also scared and have respect for us because of the results we have posted in the last six games,” De Jongh said.

Prince Dube, who was red-carded in a 1-all draw against ZPC Kariba at Nyamhunga Stadium on Wednesday, is expected to lead the team against FC Platinum as he looks to continue his recent good form.

FC Platinum coach Lizwe Sweswe is aware of the threat that in-form Highlanders pose, but said they will stand their ground in front of the multitudes of their fans.

“It will always be difficult to play against the country’s two biggest clubs in a space of four days, but this one is a cup game and there must be a winner at the end of the day. Highlanders have been in good form so it will be a difficult game, but we are FC Platinum, we will throw everything at them to come out with a win,” Sweswe said.

FC Platinum played a goalless draw with Dynamos in a league match at Rufaro on Wednesday.

Sweswe reckons that they are under pressure to retain the league title, prepare for the Caf Champions League group stages and the Chibuku Super Cup, but said they had to brace for everything at hand.

“Football is always a pressure game; the pressure has to be managed. There is the league title; we are playing in the Chibuku Super Cup and preparing for the Champions League, but we will try and give it our best against Highlanders in front of their crowd. We will push to our best,” Sweswe said.

Chibuku Super Cup fixtures

Today: Ngezi Platinum Stars v Black Rhinos (Baobab)

Tomorrow: FC Platinum v Highlanders (Babourfields), ZPC Kariba v Manica Diamonds (Vengere)

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

ZIMBABWE National Road Administration (Zinara) chairperson Michael Madanha is in the eye of another storm after he allegedly handpicked a security company owned by cronies to man tollgates across the country, ignoring an existing bidder that won the tender after being approved by the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ).

Madanha, who is at the centre of a fuel scandal at Zinara, is allegedly linked to the company named, Ex-Combatants Security Services, whose directors include former Energy and Power Development deputy minister Tsitsi Muzenda, former Zanu PF legislator Tranos Huruva, Thomas Mwazha, ex-Zanu PF Glen View South 2018 primary election candidate, Steven Hurungudo and Douglas Munangwa.

According to documents in possession of NewsDay Weekender, two security companies, Modern Security and Real Star Security Company, participated in the bidding process and won the tender to offer security services at Zinara this year.

However, the Madanha-led Zinara board allegedly disregarded the procurement process and ordered acting chief executive officer Suston Muzenda to engage the Ex-Combatants Security Services for a one-year contract without due process.

A highly-placed source told NewsDay Weekender that a board resolution was done to legitimise the “criminal offence” after the security company had already started work at the Zinara head office and all tollgates.

“A board resolution that was chaired by Madanha was done to legitimise the offence, but it was way after the security company had started giving its services to Zinara,” the source said.

Contacted for comment, Madanha did not deny the illegality, but said the board had only given the company a one-year contract while finalising the engagement of new tender winners.

“I am not part of that security company, but what I know about that company is that it was contracted before and its contract had expired. We only gave them a one-year extension on their contract, which expired, but we are still to engage those who won the tender,” he said.

Madanha also denied the allegations that he is a director in Ex-Combatants Security Services, saying he does not know any member of that security firm or the directorship of that company.

“I do not know anyone or the directorship of the company, but you can contact the management.
They may assist you. Some of the things are done at management level. As you can see, I am currently at home right now and not at work,” Madanha told NewsDay Weekender recently.

PRAZ chief executive Nyasha Chizu said although he does not have enough information about Zinara engaging another company in place of tender winners Modern Security and Real Star Security Company, he said if such an incident happened, the procedure for dealing with such issues was provided for in sections that criminalise methods of procurement could have been violated.

“I don’t have information on that account, but section 16 of the Act forbids ministers and their deputies, permanent secretaries and board members to issue directives on procuring entities to heads of parastatals,” Chizu said.

“However, we do not have information on such directives. If such procedures or incidents happened, the procedures for dealing with such issues is provided for in the same subsection of the same provision and section 94 criminalises use of procurement methods not provided by the act.”

According to the source, Ex-Combatants Security has deployed 50 security guards at Beitbridge Border Post alone, a place that in the past operated with only four guards.

The move, according to the sources, was done to boost their earnings.

At the Zinara head office, it is reported there were between 16 and 25 security guards manning the station, again to increase the bill.

The source added PRAZ wrote a letter to Zinara warning them to abide by the procurement Act, saying the move was tantamount to criminal abuse of office.

Chizu, however, could not confirm the letter, saying he needed to check with his office.

BY SHARON SIBINDI

GIFTED Bulawayo Afro-pop artiste, song writer and composer, Xolani “X-Mile” Ndlovu is set to take part in South Africa’s All Muso Festival to be held in Ekuruleni, Johannesburg on November 2.

The musician told NewsDay Weekender Life & Style from his base in South Africa that the music fete had helped build his name and fan base.

The third edition of the festival is hosted by Kasi Art Projects and will be staged at Vosloorus.
X-Mile said the event was aimed at promoting young, new and fresh talent.

“On the day, there will be live music being staged the whole day into the late evening. Artistic collaborations will be showcased, a line-up of bands, musicians and comedians as well as hip-hop acts, but all acts will be performed with a live band so as to promote live music,” he said.

“Taking part in this event and many other events organised by Kasi Art Projects has helped me build a solid name here in South Africa. They saw me perform at the first edition and their love for my music just began and they have been very supportive since.”

X-Mile said the acceptance he received in a foreign land was overwhelming and “the feeling was magical”.

“Being the only Zimbabwe guy in the line-up has always been a fascinating experience since the first edition of the festival, having to share cultural experiences with them, while they learn new things from me has been super awesome,” he said.

He promised his fans “something special” during the festival, “a more funky and upbeat performance” unlike anything they had seen him do before.

X-Mile said he was expecting to see more young talent presenting their work and art on stage and also engage with the crowd in a different way.
His performance in South Africa comes after he launched his debut video Qamazing (Fascinating) recently.

BY FARAI MATIASHE

JEHOVAH’S Witnesses have concluded their historic “Love Never Fails” themed conventions which saw over 90 000 people attend 62 regional gatherings across the country.

The three-day conventions were presented in nine languages — Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Chewa, Zimbabwe Sign Language, Venda, Swahili, French and English.

An abridged programme in simplified Chinese was also held in Harare.

The programme started at the Harare Assembly Hall at corner Simon Mazorodze and Brendon roads from the weekend of June 21 to 23 and ran through to October last weekend, with the highlight being a two-part feature film themed The Story of Josiah: Love Jehovah; Hate What Is Bad.

Spokesperson of the organisation Effort Mugabe said 93 648 people in total attended the regional conventions this year, with 1 326 people being baptised.

Mugabe said the Witnesses were now entering a new window of conventions.

“We have 61 conventions lined up for next year, including Shona, Ndebele, English, Chewa, Venda, Swahili, Chinese and Tonga,” he said.

Mugabe added that starting this weekend, Witnesses will also kick-start one-day assemblies themed Love Jehovah with All your Heart and Love Builds Up at designated centres across Zimbabwe.

There are over 48 000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Zimbabwe, part of a worldwide organisation that numbers more than 8,5 million members.

Opinion: Fr Oskar Wermter SJ

PAUL, a Jew from Tarsus in Asia Minor (today Turkey) who was first known as Saul, was one of the greatest thinkers and writers in the world of religion and spirituality. He never wrote a book.
But his letters to the early Christian communities roundabout the Mediterranean Sea constitute a large part of the New Testament (major part of the Bible).

This did not make him rich. He was not only a preacher and teacher, the intellectual leader of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, he was also a skilled craftsman, he had to be, in order to earn his livelihood and pay for his countless journeys by boat, crisscrossing the Mediterranean.

Wherever he landed he looked for work as a tentmaker. This earned him enough to support his distinguished career in the early church. “Making money” was a necessity for him, not a passion for self-enrichment. In fact, he warned his pupil and successor in the church, Timothy, “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6: 10). Mind you, the love of money is the root of all evil, not money as such. Some pastors today have great “love of money”, and people love them for it, in the hope they will get a share of it.

Paul was a fundraiser, but not for himself, not even for the church community. The early Christians in Palestine and Jerusalem were poor and destitute, widows and orphans. They needed support. Paul appealed to the Christians in Corinth (Greece). He had much time for widows. They were his co-workers. Without their help his work stalled. Paul wrote to people in Galatia: “You want me to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do.” (Galatians 2: 10).

There are people in Zimbabwe today who have compassion with the “poor”, mainly themselves. Their corrupt practices need to be wiped out. There are plenty of widows in our country. They can’t pay the school fees for their children, since their breadwinners are no longer with them. Selling tomatoes at street corners does not feed their little ones.

There are widows without a pension; it has been stolen. Medical people demand adequate payment. Nurses and midwives are rarely without expecting mothers who want to bring healthy babies home.
But instead of coming home with strong infants, they have ruined their health; often their children end up without mothers.

Is Government ignoring the complaints of medical staff about better salaries and working conditions? That is a right, it is not “love of money”. “The State must take all practical measures to ensure the provision of basic, accessible and adequate health services throughout Zimbabwe” (Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013, 29 [1]). Medical professionals must remember that their skills are not just for their own material gain. Whatever skills and knowledge they have acquired, they must share with members of the public. That is their moral duty. Government officials, responsible for public health, must not delay life-saving measures. The health of mothers must be their special concern. Mothers have a right to be taken care of by Government. Maternal health is the health of the nation.

This is the time when mothers knock at the door of their priests and pastors. They do not even know what today’s money looks like. What is legal tender? What is the difference between money you can touch, keep in your purse, push across the counter to pay a bill — and invisible money, that becomes real only when you push the right buttons on your smart phone? Do we stick to “real” money or do we manage with “funny” money that pays bills, but we do not really know how to get hold of it and use it properly?

In some countries there is no longer money you can handle. There is no business unless an automatic machine likes you and gives you what you need. If you do not know how to handle it, you had better get used to new invisible currencies.

I remember standing in front of such a machine on a trip to Europe, trying to get a ticket, but nothing happened. A friendly fellow traveller came up to me, smiling, “What’s wrong?”

“This automatic machine does not want to serve me. I can’t get the ticket I need.” He pressed a couple of buttons, pushed in a coin I had never seen before, the machine rattled, and disgorged what I wanted. What impressed me more, the friendly and helpful travelling companion, or the “friendly” machine? Are we just dependent now on “friendly” machines”? I think “friendly and helpful” people are still indispensable. However friendly automats may be, I hope I will always find a kind human being, a person with an open purse.

Which brings me back to that mother of five school-going children. She used to be my neighbour. But now she lives at her rural home of yesterday. Her husband was killed in a political fracas, her father-in-law perished on a bush-track, run over by a government vehicle. Maybe they were all of them unpopular as voting “wrongly”. Life is dangerous, a risky business, especially for people considered “politically unreliable”. And on top of that, without a steady income. “Love of money?” I do not think so. Love of life, love of her children was more likely to have exposed her to poverty and other such enemies .

I had no job for her, nothing to boost her income. I was just happy to meet her again, after years of little contact with her and her children.

I remember several catastrophic inflations. One was a matter of hearsay. My mother, working in her father’s law office, had to take the money customers had brought in the morning, and run to the next bakery to buy bread for the family. It had to be done as fast as possible, or else the money was just for the rubbish bin.

After World War II there was another inflation. A new currency in 1948 saved us from more fake money and useless banknotes. That was in East Germany. But we were about to emigrate to the West.

Mother had managed to find some “genuine” western money. Before we boarded a train to take us to the border which we wanted to cross illegally, she sewed the few banknotes she had into the lining of my little coat in the hope that the Russian border guards would not find them. With that money we bought the first oranges and bananas we had ever seen and eaten.

This prepared me for the multi-currency regime of Zimbabwe. Living in Mbare, near Stoddard Hall, one morning I found a long line of “bearer cheques” scattered along the street. Someone with a bit of “black humour” had left them there. US $ notes were to take their place soon after.

Money, especially banknotes, are a matter of trust. What can you do with paper currencies? In the days of my parents’ parents they were supposed to stand for the gold standard. Grandpa’s money which Mama took to the bakery was useless, unless it stood for something of economic substance and value. Zimbabwe was once a gold producing country.

The Portuguese and then the British came here precisely because they expected to find something of value when they were digging deep down into gold and silver mines. Even copper was very desirable and wanted by the arms of industry, for instance during the Vietnam War.

The Central Bank keeps promising that they will print new money. But what for? If the economy produces nothing, new crisp bank notes do not buy even fresh tomatoes from Domboshava. Mama’s new money will not be accepted even by the headmaster of her children’s school.

Let them print new money. But can we trust them? What will the new “bearer cheques” stand for?
For gold? That is not very likely. Can we trust the banks that the new money will buy us mealie meal and put sadza on the table? We hope the new currency will at least be accepted in “kombis” to take us to work, our children to school, and all of us back home.

We must be able to trust the money printers at least that far.

 Father Oskar Wermter writes here in his person capacity

By Mthandazo Nyoni

THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) says it is being sued by several companies for failing to pay them in United States dollars as per contractual agreements.

BCC concluded a number of contracts with its clients in US dollar terms, before government outlawed the use of foreign currency for domestic transactions.

This has resulted in the local authority failing to pay its clients in forex, a situation that has opened legal floodgates.

“As you know, we are not allowed to collect United States dollars. It brings us to a problem where we cannot import essential things like water treatment chemicals,” BCC financial director Kimpton Ndimande told delegates attending a recent ZNCC trade and investment conference.

“We have big contracts that we concluded in US dollars before that SI (SI 142 of 2019) came in and now we can’t pay that contractor in US dollars. That obviously brings us untold problems in the contractual area. We are sued left, right and centre, because they don’t care what the SI says. They want their money.”

Meanwhile, Ndimande said government should make available soft loans to local authorities for infrastructural development.

“Government should also give us money to take care of our vulnerable in society. We used to have appropriations from government for that,” he said.
Ndimande bemoaned high electricity tariffs, saying they were choking the city.

“Greening the city, we would like to see a lot more being done in the budget for greening. I can tell you right now that electricity charges are beyond the ability of the city,” he said.

The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority recently approved a 320% electricity tariff increase to 162,16 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).

Ndimande pleaded with the government to scrap the 2% tax levied on electronic transactions, saying the tax was choking their operations.

“We would like to see that 2% tax scrapped. We are a price taker. Right now, a lot of you up there want us to pay this 2% twice. We pay it as a consumer, but then you want us to pay you for further transactions on that 2%. That’s what we are experiencing right now. So those are the things that affect us as a city. We would like to see this 2% in the budget set aside,” he said.

SUCCESS LIFE: Jonah Nyoni

If you travel to other countries that’s when you feel that Brand Zimbabwe has been shuttered. Who do we blame? All of us. Let’s never lie to each other, our brand has been years in destroying and we need to rebuild it together. We have let politics lead, and that has tainted the brand.

We have blamed each other and that has not brought any help. We need to put down our political and personal egos and work together in building our country. My mother always tells me the old stories about Zimbabwe and it was indeed the envy of many countries in the seventies and before. It was glowing, growing and glamorous. But, what really happened? Zimbabwe is not positively perceived by many other countries. We may try to defend and justify ourselves, but the truth is that our relations with other countries are not as great as we would want them to be. We want to relate with other countries because we are going there as beggars and that’s very unfortunate. A positive brand is crucial for success. People don’t just buy products, they buy the feeling associated with the brand. Rob Brown once said, “Your reputation is your personal share price in stock market of life”.

11 Cs that will make Zimbabwe stand out:

Clarity — Collectivism is needed and the leader should lead everyone to work together. We can only work together if we are clear about what we want to achieve as a country. Our Capriciousness in policy, politics, and promises has made us not to be really clear about want we want to achieve.

Create — Zimbabwe has become a consumer. It used to be the breadbasket, but now we running everywhere to consume. We must create products that are competitive, and compelling. We have PR stunts, but that to me is trying to gloss over the whole thing.

Communication — We need to tell the world about Zimbabwe. Speak with one voice and say the truth. Truly Zimbabwe is endowered with great tourist places and that must be sold.

Consistence — We need to stick to the bigger story about Zimbabwe and that should bring us together despite our political differences. Most people would agree that Zimbabwe is a good country, but they never try to sell it.

Collectively re-build — Zimbabwe needs to be rebuilt. Other nations such as Botswana have been building their structures and roads that align to 21st century needs. But with us, it’s like we stopped and parked. Not, only that, we began to fight each other. What we are left with are fights between political parties. Secondly, we have leaders that are not listening to the yearning and cries of the people. If our leaders could truly listen to us, and endeavour to build this nation we can become great.

Collaborate — Success is when you are able to engage other people to help you build your dream. Zimbabwe can never win alone. We should stop behaving as if we don’t need other countries.

Conscious — We need to be clear and put a deliberate effort to rebuild Zimbabwe. If you truly listen to people; people are bitter and they are constantly speaking about the melting economy and the genuine every day struggles in eking out a better life That should change. Leadership must now want, will and walk the talk of rebuilding Zimbabwe.

Competitive — We must now become competitive on a global scale. That can be achieved if we work hard as a country with specific goals we want to achieve and practical means of how to achieve that. We must reward people based on merit. You walk into a government office, you feel it’s a ghost office. The basic office furniture is too old. A good example is the Zimbabwe Republic Police offices, the Passport office and the Birth and death offices. They are run down and people are not motivated to work. Leadership must trigger excellency. When crossing the Beitbridge border you see a marked difference between the Zimbabwe and South African Immigration offices. Peter Drucker said we live in an era of 3 Cs. Overwhelming complexity. Accelerated change. Tremendous competition”. Raise the standard.

Change — Things have changed and the question is has Zimbabwe changed for the positive. This life is constantly changing, evolving and progressing. The first step to change, is by challenging what we created as a country in the past.

Confidence — Leaders must build confidence. Confidence is the great currency that people are willing to buy from Zimbabwe. People buy brands they trust. Zimbabwe must be a trusted brand. We must say no to corruption and underhand deals.

Commit — We must be committed to building Zimbabwe first before we ask for other countries to give us a hand.

A great brand does not come easily, but you have to be willing to win together. We must make it a point that the promise of Zimbabwe is clear.

Jonah Nyoni is an author, success coach and certified leadership/business trainer. He is the author of Inspiration for Success and Success Within Reach.

BY Stephen Chadenga

GWERU City Council (GCC) has resurrected plans to install pre-paid water meters barely three months after saying it had indefinitely suspended the move due to the high costs involved in implementation.

In a speech read on his behalf by his deputy, Cleopas Shiri during a recent tour by officials from the National Defence University, mayor Josiah Makombe revealed that council was courting investors for the rehabilitation of both its water reticulation system and prepaid meter project.

“We have investment opportunities for those who are willing to take up rehabilitation of the water reticulation network and deployment of prepaid water meter system in the city,” Makombe said.

“We are also calling for investors who are willing to rehabilitate our sewage treatment plants and upgrade our reticulation system.”

Makombe added: “We have power challenges in Zimbabwe and as a local authority, we have created investment opportunities for anyone willing to venture into waste to energy power generation supply into the national grid.”

The city has on several occasions set aside plans to introduce prepaid meters and the latest move was likely to draw the ire of residents associations.

Gweru Residents Forum director Charles Mazorodze said his organisation would resist any attempt by council to impose prepaid meters on residents.

“As we have said before, any attempt to bring prepaid water meters through the back door will be met with stiff resistance,” he said.

“Water is a right and we cannot tolerate the move, particularly in a city where lives have been lost through typhoid and other water borne diseases.”

Council, however, argues that prepaid meters would improve its revenue collection base and remove of defaulting.

Residents owe the local authority more than $68 million in unpaid water bills.

BY PATRICIA SIBANDA/DARLINGTON MWASHITA

PARTICIPANTS at an inquiry on access to national documentation conducted by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) in Bulawayo on Tuesday made impassioned pleas for the government to decentralise registry offices.

Concerns were raised that long distances were hindering people in remote rural areas from acquiring national identification documents.

Trinity Project director, Phumulani Mpofu said his wish was for ZHRC to facilitate decentralisation of the registry offices.

“I once worked at Nsiza and I noticed people had to travel very long distances to get documentation. There is no accessible registration office in that area and we are asking the registry to open more of these offices so that the people do not have to walk discouraging miles just to get national documents,” he said.

Mpofu said the biggest challenge was the stringent Birth Registration Act, which negatively affected people in remote areas.

“We, as an organisation, are asking you to be very lenient with people who live in the outskirt regions of the country, when it comes to birth registration fee. May you please reduce (fees) because you have to consider that those people do not have much and the distance they travel is long,” Mpofu said.

He said legal guardians or custodians face challenges registering children without proper documentation of the biological parents.

“There are a lot of accidents that happen in the country, chronic diseases, economic migration as some of our brothers and sisters cross borders in search of improved economic opportunities, hence those who remain behind with the children face difficulties in acquiring documents for them,” Mpofu said.

ZHRC chairperson Elasto Mugwadi promised to take the matter to Parliament.

“We will benefit a lot from all your concerns and we are dedicated to compile them in the global report that will reach the government to make sure that these stringent laws which stop people from attaining proper documentation are removed,” Mugwadi said.

Bulawayo provincial registrar Jane Peters said participants had raised vital concerns which needed to be addressed.

“It was very insightful, especially when you spoke about the changing of laws, that was excellent overall,” Peters said.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

RESERVE Bank governor John Mangudya yesterday threw former Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa under the bus after he refused to take responsibility for the US$3,2 billion Treasury Bills that were unlawfully issued from 2017 to 2018 mostly for the Command Agriculture programme.

He told Parliament that the illegalities were done by the Finance ministry, then under Chinamasa.

Mangudya had appeared before the Tendai Biti-led Public Accounts Committee to explain how the RBZ issued out the US$3, 6 billion TBs.

The meeting was highly emotional and tempers flared between the RBZ governor and Biti as the PAC interrogated the central bank boss over the issuance of the TBs without Parliament approval causing massive inflation currently affecting the country.

Biti and Mangudya did not give each other chances to speak during the heated exchanges until Chirumanzu MP Barbara Rwodzi berated them and pointed out that the meeting was about the PAC doing investigations on the US$3,6 billion and must not be personalised to issues between Mangudya and Biti.

Tempers flared when Biti accused the RBZ of bad corporate governance, arguing it was the central bank that broke the law by failing to advise the Finance ministry that they were treading on illegalities.

“The Ministry of Finance spent money outside the blue book and when they appeared before PAC, they said it was not their problem and they passed the snake to you (RBZ), and the schedule says that you spent US$2,1 billion in 2017 and US$1,5 billion in 2018, and the bulk of the money was spent outside Parliament approval and the Appropriation Act by the RBZ,” Biti said.

“When we go to the specifics, they will show that 90% of the TBs were generated by the RBZ, and as central bank governor, it means that you were oblivious that the Finance ministry was overspending, and on what legal basis did the RBZ breach the Constitution by spending US$2,1 billion in 2017 and US$1,5 billion in 2018 which was not approved by Parliament?”

Mangudya responded: “The question should be referred to the Ministry of Finance who gave you the information. It is they who should answer to you. The money was not spent by the RBZ. We just get an instruction from the principal agent (Finance ministry) who wrote letters for us to issue payments for Command Agriculture, and it is the Ministry of Finance who should give you the reasons why.”

He added: “It means they should answer — not me. There was an instruction from the Ministry of Finance that I should release US$1,5 billion TBs for the purchase of maize from farmers.

If the Ministry of Finance, which is the Executive, gives an instruction for an account to be paid, is it legal? The answer is it was legal.”

The PAC said the release of US$840 million used to pay for local grain without Parliament approval in 2018 triggered the Auditor-General and PAC to notice that there was something amiss with the manner in which funds were being used.

When Agriculture ministry secretary Ringson Chitsiko appeared before Parliament, he said he did not know about the payments and yet it was purported to have been used to purchase grain which is the mandate of his ministry.

“The answer is that the RBZ did not overspend. The Ministry of Finance should answer that question,” Mangudya insisted.

Cornered, the central bank governor then produced a 2009 letter where he claimed that Biti was accusing him of illegally releasing TBs for agricultural purposes and yet during the government of national unity, he (Biti) as Finance minister signed for TBs to be released for Command Agriculture.

Biti then read letters between Chinamasa and the RBZ which showed that the features and terms and conditions in the TBs were defined by the RBZ and not the Ministry of Finance. The law states that the features must be defined by the Finance ministry.

“If you look at the letters from Chinamasa, he was setting you (RBZ) up and you did not realise that he was putting you in a trap when you unlawfully set the features of the TBs because even if you go to court, Chinamasa will say it was the RBZ which issued the TBs and he will get away with it,” Biti said.