via Vultures circle Dinha – DailyNews Live 17 August 2015 by Fungi Kwaramba
HARARE – Mashonaland Central provincial affairs minister Martin Dinha is treading on thin ice as hardliners in the faction-riddled ruling party push hard for his arrest on a litany of allegations ranging from corruption to abuse of office as the party’s succession battles assume a new twist, the Daily News has learnt.
Dinha, who recently received a bullet parcel — is seen as an obstacle to the ambitions of the G40 camp and some war veterans in the province who want his wings clipped.
Apart from aligning himself to the First Family, Dinha, who was previously linked to ousted Vice President Joice Mujuru, is now accused of belonging to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s faction, something that has angered the G40 camp that is also known by the moniker young Turks.
Well-placed sources say for the past four months authorities opposed to Dinha have been trawling evidence to nail the minister, who has taken bootlicking of the First Family to new heights.
“A top police officer is said to be one of those behind efforts to have Dinha arrested.
What angered the senior police official is that Dinha gave offer letters for land to (Harare provincial affairs minister) Marian Chikukwa and MP for Rushinga Wonder Mashange.
The officer reportedly also wanted a piece of land given to his brother-in-law,” the source said.
To nail Dinha, authorities have reportedly been compiling “evidence” to try and nail him on allegations that the former Bindura mayor extorted money from the few remaining white farmers.
The sources told the Daily News yesterday that there is now a convergence of interests between war veterans in the province and the G40 camp that want Dinha kicked out and replaced either by an ex-war combatant or Zanu PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere’s brother Dickson Mafios.
Kasukuwere hails from Mashonaland Central and is widely regarded as the head of the ambitious G40 camp that harbours ambitions to succeed 91-year-old President Robert Mugabe.
“An operation was launched with the president’s aide using his vast contacts in police and since May police have been investigating Dinha. But the white farmers refused to testify against Dinha leading the case to crumble,” a source said.
Sources close to the investigations also revealed that Dinha’s accounts with two leading banks in the country were raided as the State machinery tried to nail the minister with irrefutable evidence.
“Some hardliners presented a dossier to the president seeking the arrest and prosecution of Dinha but he said there must be irrefutable evidence before such an action is taken.”
On Friday, the Daily News was inundated with calls that Dinha had been arrested but it proved to be a hoax.
Dinha has also angered his peers in the province by parcelling prime land in Mazowe to Mugabe’s influential wife Grace who is regarded as an outsider.
“Dinha has survived because of the close ties he has with the First Lady.
“Last year, the province had recommended that he be expelled from the party because of his ties to Mai Mujuru but he was saved by the First Lady,” the source said.
Several attempts to get a comment from Dinha yesterday were fruitless as his number went unanswered.
But, recently after he had received a bullet and a threatening message, telling him to step down or risk suffering the same fatal fate that befell the late Zanu PF political commissar, Elliot Manyika, who died in a suspicious car accident in 2008, Dinha said he is ready to die for Mugabe.
Dinha, who referred to Mugabe as “my mentor and master” in the interview said then that he belongs to neither of Zanu PF’s major factions that are engaged in a mortal battle for control of the former liberation movement and the State — as they impatiently position themselves to succeed the nonagenarian.
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