Last year, Mzembi was instrumental in bringing Al-Saadi Gaddafi to Zimbabwe, where he was said to be exploring investment opportunities. The young Gaddafi was taken to Victoria Falls and the Tokwe Mukosi Dam. He also met President Robert Mugabe.
The fall of Gaddafi after a six-month rebellion has sparked speculation about his investments in Zimbabwe and claims that his family might consider seeking refuge in the country.
“I am the minister who personally invited Saadi Gaddafi under the celebrity host programme and we invited him because he was a celebrity then,” Mzembi said during a lecture at Midlands State University (MSU) on Friday.
“He was a celebrity in the sense that he was the son of a national leader, that he was a soccer player who played for a top Italian club and also that he is a civil engineer.” Mzembi said they wanted to enlist Saadi’s help to lure Libyan tourists to visit Zimbabwe.
“We also wanted him to help with our soccer players, but there was no single memorandum of understanding that was signed,” he said. Zimbabwe last month expelled the Libyan ambassador Taher El Megrahi after he led his countrymen in hoisting the flag of the National Transitional Authority (NTC), which toppled Gaddafi.
