Zanu PF man calls minister Mpofu thief

via Zanu PF man calls minister Mpofu thief – New Zimbabwe 12/04/2015

PROPERTY developer and Zanu PFdistrict official Killer Zivhu has called transport minister Obert Mpofu a “daylight robber” who should not be allowed to go scot-free after his Allied Bank recently collapsed leaving him struggling to reimburse depositors.

The Chivi Rural District Council chairperson called on government to bar “thieves from establishing banks for the purposes of plunder”.

Zivhu was addressing journalists in Norton after receiving $2 million worth of earthmoving equipment for his Zimbabwe Amalgamated Housing Association (ZAHA) acquired from local supplier XGMA Zimbabwe that has links to China.

The equipment included graders and tipper trucks normally used in heavy duty construction.

“I must say we are indebted to our members who have stuck with us even in trying times when almost $2 million of our funds went down the drain following the closure of Allied Bank.

“I think our government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe need to do something about this issue.

“We cannot have indigenisation just for the sake of it. We have people setting up banks just to plunder people’s monies. Now Mpofu is walking scot-free after abusing depositors’ money and wants to pay $500 to institutions and $25 to individuals without regard to how much people are owed.

“It is daylight robbery that should never be allowed,” said Zivhu.

He added: “There are a lot of thieves who are being allowed to open banks just for the fun of fleecing poor ordinary people who are struggling to make ends meet. Had it not been for prudent planning and management ZAHA would not have been where it is today because it is massive for a small organisation like this to lose $1.8 million just like that.”

“The earthmoving equipment was acquired from XGMA Zimbabwe who provided us with favourable terms in a deal worth $2 million. They have delivered half of the equipment and we will receive the other lot in due course.

We would like to assist government in its quest to achieve its goal of descent housing provision and hope we will get more land to develop now that we have the requisite equipment rather than hiring”.

Early this year Allied Bank, in which Mpofu was a major shareholder, surrendered its license to authorities after failing to raise the required capital threshold leaving thousands of depositors stranded.

Mpofu also shut down his newspaper The Zimbabwe Mail after it ran into financial trouble and left over 20 journalists as well as other support staff, unpaid for nearly half a year, high and dry.

Early this year it was reported that Mpofu’s building named Emabhizeni in Gwanda was a health hazard with residents complaining that its toilets were dilapidated, emitting unbearable pong.

Many people have questioned the source of former mines minister’s wealth.

Mpofu, who calls himself President Mugabe’s “obedient son”, became MP for Umguza in 2002 after beating MDC’s Jacob Thabane and has remained a legislator since.

Ahead of that, he had lost to the same Thabane during the 2000 election. Thabane was a last minute replacement candidate for the MDC after white farmer, Martin Olds, was brutally killed by war veterans during the bloody campaign period.

In the 1990s, Zanu PF colleagues in Bulawayo nicknamed Mpofu the “state house correspondent” as he was known to attend provincial meetings and secretly channel details to Mugabe’s office, information that would eventually appear in the state media.

Reports in January said information minister Jonathan Moyo lashed out at Mpofu during a heated party meeting saying the transport minister had the “body of an elephant and the brain of rat”.