By Brandon Josphat josphabl@dailynews.co.zw
AFTER months of hogging the limelight for all sorts of reasons, things suddenly appear to be going South for businessman Wicknell Chivayo.
This comes after the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) opened a probe into the US$40 million deal awarded by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to Chivayo and his associates to supply materials for last year’s national elections.
No-nonsense Zacc chairperson, Michael Reza, confirmed to the Daily News at the weekend that the anti-graft body had opened an investigation into the contract — with the commission later releasing a formal statement on the matter late yesterday.
All this followed the fierce fight that had erupted over the spoils of the deal involving Chivayo, Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu — who now stand accused of inflating prices for the materials that they supplied to Zec
“We are seized with the allegations of corruption activities between Wicknell Chivayo and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
“More details will be released in a press statement that we are expecting to issue soon. “But as the commission, I can confirm that we are currently working on the matter of allegations of corruption between Wicknell Chivayo and Zec,” Reza said.
“We are seized with the matter 100 percent as we want to fight corruption and bring sanity in the country. “And justice will be served because as Zacc we have no tolerance to corruption,” he further told the Daily News.
Reza also added that members of the public should feel free to approach the commission and share with them any information they might have relating to the deal.
“Our mandate as Zacc is to fight corruption and we always fight this whether someone files a report or we see any news article. “We follow up on everything that is related to corruption. However, we would prefer though that someone approaches us and tells us how this thing was done.
“Therefore, people who feel that they may have any relevant information … we are actually appealing to them to approach Zacc to shed more light to us,” Reza also said.
“The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission has taken note of a letter purportedly written by Messrs Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe to a South African based company, REN-form, demanding payment and resolution of a contractual dispute.
“The Commission has also noted audios allegedly attributed to Mr Wicknell Chivhayo. “The letter and recordings raise issues related to money laundering and abuse of office that fall within the purview of the Commission.
“Consequently, Zacc will be interviewing Messrs Mpofu, Chimombe, and Chivhayo to gather more information and gain clarity on the matters highlighted,” Zacc said in its formal statement yesterday.
“The Commission is also keen to interview Messrs Mpofu and Chimombe on the Presidential Goats Scheme mentioned in one of the audios. “The Commission reaffirms its commitment to curb corruption and promote honesty, financial discipline and transparency in the public and private sectors, in line with the mandate outlined in Section 255 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
“The public is encouraged to report any instance of corruption and to support the Commission’s efforts in promoting a corruption-free Zimbabwe,” Zacc spokesperson, Commissioner Thandiwe Mlobane, added.
All this comes after presidential spokesperson George Charamba warned Zimbabweans last week against abusing and maligning the country’s leaders. This followed reports that Chivayo was allegedly using his links to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to get lucrative public sector tenders.
Responding to the raging social media claims that Chivayo had allegedly captured Mnangagwa, Charamba said then that these allegations were clearly intended to smear the president. At the same time, Chivayo himself has averred that audio tapes making reference to the president that were being shared widely on social media — and supposedly recorded by him — were fake.
Charamba said it was regrettable that there was a small section of Zimbabweans which continued to link Mnangagwa and his government to things that were detrimental to the development of the country.
“What insanity: You have business partners who dribble one another. In the ensuing fallout, one of them (Chivayo) allegedly name-drops in order to scare away the rest. “I am supposed to be exercised by such a bald form of self-defence through name-dropping on the part of a party to the dispute.
“The offensive name-dropping automatically indicts the president and government? Claims don’t become true because they have been made. Or because some detractors of His Excellency the President, Dr ED Mnangagwa, in chorus form wish them to be so,” Charamba added. He also emphasised that Mnangagwa had nothing to do with the US$40 million deal for materials for last August’s national elections.
It is this deal which apparently triggered a massive fallout between Chivayo, Mpofu and Chimombe — whose publicly-drawn fight over the spoils has captivated the nation. Charamba said it was wrong to link Mnangagwa and the government to the deal when Zec, which was mandated to conduct its own business independently, was there to comment on the contentious contract.
“It, Zec, enters into contracts as it sees fit, and in terms of the laws of the country. Government may not interfere in its decisions, without raising fundamental questions on the commission’s independence.
“No one should incite the government into breaking the law by diminishing Zec’s status as a legal persona. “Besides, it can answer for itself. No one has approached it for a comment, in the current mad stampede to self-interview, and to become a self-appointed jury,” Charamba said further.