Essar deal Mujuru’s project: Mutsvangwa

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War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa all but signalled the death of the much touted $750 million Essar Africa deal for the takeover of Ziscosteel when he said the project was “a Mujuru project” which would strip the country of its vital resources.

War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa all but signalled the death of the much touted $750 million Essar Africa deal for the takeover of Ziscosteel when he said the project was “a Mujuru project” which would strip the country of its vital resources.

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

Addressing hundreds of war veterans in Kwekwe last week, Mutsvangwa alleged ousted Vice-President Joice Mujuru and her allies now being labelled “gamatox”, worked with the MDC formations to bring in Essar in a bid to rob the country of its natural resources.

“Those Essar deals were part of Mujuru’s grand plan to give away our resources for free,” he alleged.

“It was a gamatox war against the ruling party and we as war veterans defeated them and now that we have won the war against the gamatox, we are concentrating on resuscitating the economy.”

The Essar deal reportedly also included over 30 billion tonnes of iron ore at Mwanesi, one of the largest in the world.

Mutsvangwa pleaded with the former freedom fighters to give President Robert Mugabe until 2017 to restore the economy.

The Essar deal was concluded four years ago with Mugabe officially re-opening the dormant steel plant. But the deal is still to be operationalised, leaving over 3 000 workers out of work and in poverty.

Mutsvangwa, who is also the war veterans’ leader, accused Mujuru of being behind the collapse of the cotton industry after allegedly forcing prices of the product to fall. But he failed to provide evidence linking Mujuru, who could not be reached for comment, to his claims.