A 41-year-old Air Zimbabwe employee, Vengai Sithole, is alleged to have masqueraded as the first family’s ex-employee and approached Energy and Power Development deputy minister Tsitsi Muzenda with an employment application while claiming to have been sent by President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace.
Sithole, who was arrested and charged with fraud, is also alleged to have indicated that he was resident at the Mazowe Orphanage and that he had previously worked for the first family until 2003 when he was involved in an accident leading to serious injuries.
However, Sithole’s shenanigans were exposed when on August 29 2017 Muzenda met the first lady at the orphanage and enquired on the issue to which Mugabe expressed ignorance of the matter, saying Sithole was abusing her name for personal gains.
The state alleges on September 8 2017, Sithole sent Muzenda a text message using a mobile phone requesting an update on his job application, but Muzenda is said to have made a police report leading to his arrest.
In his bail application, Sithole denied masquerading as the former first family’s employee, saying that he only delivered a letter to the minister which he got from the President’s Office at Chaminuka building requesting for jobs for the youths and not himself alone. —GIFT NJIRISI
