SHE built her reputation as an innovative and hard-working businesswoman and was widely viewed as determined to pluck other women from abject poverty. Having carved her name in the clothing industry in the early 1980s, Jane Mutasa was the brains behind the formation of the Indigenous Business Women’s Organisation (IBWO) in 1994 to help local women start businesses as well as offering advice to existing ones.

But that reputation, which Mutasa built over years, is fast fading because of her frequent brushes with the law and allegations that she used IBWO to enrich herself at the expense of the women she purported to assist.

Mutasa, who is a Telecel board member, is currently facing nine counts of fraud involving the illegal sale of seed packs and recharge cards worth over US$750 000.

The businesswoman is out of remand prison on a US$2 000 bail.

Observers say her incarceration — whether guilty or innocent — provides a sneak preview into how Zimbabwe’s so-called proponents of indigenisation built their empires.

A few days before her arrest, Mutasa was vocal, supporting the controversial empowerment law that requires foreign firms to cede 51% of their shareholding to locals, which many believe could be used by Zanu PF officials to line their pockets.

This is not the first time that the businesswoman has had an encounter with the law. In 2004 Mutasa was convicted and fined Z$8,5 million for illegally dealing in foreign currency amounting to US$10 400.

She was the first person to be convicted under a section of the Exchange Control Act which had just been enacted. Only last year Mutasa hogged the limelight again after she was robbed of her Mercedes Benz S350 and US$20 000 at gunpoint.

Many people wondered where she got the cash at a time when even the richest businessperson in the country was battling to access foreign currency.

Her critics accuse Mutasa of using IBWO to enrich herself and her colleagues in Zanu PF at the expense of ordinary businesswomen.

Women who spoke to The Standard last week accused her of “jumping on any government project not necessarily to help disadvantaged women but to build her own empire”.

They claimed IBWO had become “a one-woman organisation” as she has personalised everything.

“From the beginning IBWO has been Mutasa and up to now it still is,” said one of the women, who did not last a year in the organisation.

But Zimbabwe Broadlands Ltd chairman Chemist Siziba said Mutasa was already “a successful businesswoman with an impressive clientele” when they met in 1991 to form the Indigenous Business Development Centre (IBDC), a black empowerment vehicle.

The businesswoman was running a clothing manufacturing company — Super Quality Manufacturers —  which she had established a decade earlier.

She was already exporting her products to several countries in the region, he said. “We invited her to join IBDC because we had seen her potential,” said Siziba, who was then IBDC president.

“She became a board member and that was when she decided to form IBWO.”

Siziba said Mutasa greatly benefited from the government’s empowerment programme although he did not know whether other women also benefited or whether she abused her position as alleged.

When exiled businessman James Makamba formed Telecel Zimbabwe, said Siziba, he organised some indigenous groups which included IBWO, war veterans and others to acquire shares.

Mutasa was appointed to the Telecel board. “Generally, she is temperamental and forthright in expressing her views,” said Siziba.

“She leaves you with no doubt about her mind and she fights to achieve what she wants.”

However, a close friend of hers who requested anonymity said Mutasa is good at using her business and political connections in Zanu PF to grow her businesses.

“Jane Mutasa is the kind of a person who would use her connections to the maximum,” she said.

“This is how she got into Telecel.”

Mutasa said on Saturday  she had been instructed by her lawyer not to talk to the press.

However, a close relative  scoffed at accusations that the businesswoman had used IBWO and political connections to further her business ambitions.

The relative said Mutasa never benefited from IBWO, but actually helped hundreds of women start up their own businesses.

“Right now women across the country are accessing loans from two financial houses to start their businesses,” said the relative. “Can you say she is not assisting women when she is doing that?”

The relative said Mutasa had her own shares in Telecel, separate from those belonging to IBWO. She is also a tobacco merchant, she revealed.

“Mutasa bought Telecel shares a long time ago,” she said. “You should also know that Telecel rented her workshop for more than three years.”

By the time Mutasa joined Telecel, according to the relative, she had already made her money from a booming clothing business.

Not much is known about Mutasa’s other businesses. But her close friends say she put sons and daughters as directors of her other companies.

The relative claimed her arrest was linked to boardroom squabbles that have become common at the telecommunications company.

All is not well at Telecel Zimbabwe at the moment.

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) is threatening to cancel the firm’s licence after it failed to bring its shareholding structure in line with legislation barring foreigners from owning in excess of 50% of any local communications firm.

Telecel International owns 60% of Telecel Zimbabwe while the other 40% is in the hands of Empowerment Corporation, a consortium of black businesspeople.

Very little is known about Mutasa’s educational background except that the mother of four was given a doctorate by the Solusi University in Bulawayo for her outstanding contribution to the empowerment of women in the country.

BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE

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