President Robert Mugabe personally ordered the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) to let Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo skip court on Friday in yet another twist to the gripping Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) corruption saga that threatens to tear Zanu PF apart.
BY STAFF REPORTER
Moyo was at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) graduation ceremony in Bulawayo where he had accompanied Mugabe and did not appear at the Harare magistrates court as expected.
The State tried to push for a warrant of arrest to be issued against the minister, but magistrate Vakai Douglas Chikwekwe dismissed the request on the grounds that it was not the court that had ordered that Moyo appear in court on Friday.
Despite that, Zacc investigators allegedly laid siege at the Harare International Airport from Friday afternoon as they tried to apprehend him upon his return from Bulawayo. However, it is Mugabe’s intervention that would dispel the notion that the 92-year-old had dumped Moyo in the face of a spirited campaign by the minister’s foes to have him behind bars for alleged graft.
According to documents originating from Mugabe’s office and gleaned by this paper, Zacc acting secretary Silas Pondo was informed that the president had ordered that the minister must accompany him to Bulawayo and, according to the documents, Zacc consented.
A letter by Moyo’s lawyers to Zacc’s Pondo also confirmed Mugabe’s intervention.
“We refer to your request to meet at your offices this morning,” reads the letter dated November 3. “The president of the Republic of Zimbabwe, who is our client’s principal, has requested our client’s presence in Bulawayo with him today on official business.
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“We understand that this position was directly communicated to yourselves through official channels. We, however, for the record attach hereto a confirmatory letter.”
The letter from Mugabe’s chief secretary Misheck Sibanda obtained from Zacc sources reads: “The acting secretary of the Anti-Corruption Commission was informed by the chief secretary that Prof Moyo should be allowed to accompany the president to the Nust graduation as previously planned. In response the acting secretary agreed that the Anti-Corruption Commission would comply.”
The developments come amid revelations that ZACC investigators waited for Mugabe’s flight to arrive at the Harare International Airport so that they could arrest Moyo, claiming they had a warrant of arrest.
Moyo was not on that flight and the ZACC returned to the airport later to lay a siege anticipating that he would be returning to Harare. Again Moyo was not on the flight.
Sources close to the minister said it was curious that one of the charges that ZACC want laid against the minister is that he allegedly foiled their bid to arrest him yet the commission had no arresting powers.
Moyo, his deputy Godfrey Gandawa, some officials in their ministry and Zimdef are accused of siphoning $400 000 from Zacc.
The minister insists that he is innocent and the money he is alleged to have abused was used to bankroll Zanu PF projects and to buy bicycles for traditional leaders in Tsholotsho.
Moyo accuses Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa of using Zacc to gain a foothold in the race to succeed Mugabe.
He says the charges also amount to tribal persecution and has vowed to sue the VP, Mugabe’s secretary George Charamba and Information minister Chris Mushowe over the Zacc saga.
