via Mugabe sacrifices Masimirembwa – DailyNews Live by Chengetai Zvauya 18 SEPTEMBER 2013
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe yesterday claimed Goodwills Masimirembwa, the former Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) chairman, tried to extort $6 million from Ghanaian investors.
Masimirembwa yesterday denied the allegations saying he is ready to explain to Mugabe the true facts of the matter.
Mugabe told a luncheon for lawmakers held at a Harare hotel, that the losing Zanu PF aspiring legislator for Mabvuku constituency, asked a Ghanaian mining firm with interest in gold production for a bribe to facilitate a joint venture deal.
Mugabe did not state when all this happened.
The 89-year-old Zanu PF leader, who has just been re-elected for a seventh five-year term is on an anti-corruption platform and indigenisation drive, claimed Masimirembwa threatened the Ghanaians with arrest if they ever set their foot in the country after reportedly spurning the lawyer-cum-politician’s demand.
The veteran leader said the Ghanaian investors approached his office for assistance, resulting in the disclosure of the alleged corruption.
Mugabe has a soft spot for Ghanaians, having completed his economics degree in Ghana in 1958, and also taught at St. Mary’s Teacher Training College, where he met his first wife, Sarah Heyfron, whom he would marry in 1961.
The former guerilla leader uncharacteristically railed against the ex-ZMDC boss, insisting he tried to extort cash from the Ghananians
“Masimirembwa, you got $6 million as bribe money from Ghanaian businesspeople and it is this we do not like and we do not want people who are corrupt,” Mugabe said in unusually direct remarks.
The Zanu PF leader said he will not allow the case to rest, hinting that there could be an imminent arrest.
Contacted by the Daily News, Masimimirembwa said: “I respect President Mugabe, he was speaking about what he was informed by his advisors but it seems the real people who were involved with this issue are the ones who misled him.
“When called upon to defend myself, I will do so and will reveal who was involved and how. I am clean on this matter am ready to explain to the nation and the President and I have the facts.”
COMMENTS
Zanu is a party of corrupt and heartless idiots. Election theft is corruption of a far higher order than a small amount of USD6 million. Only the thief is in office and calling the shots. Maybe one day, the truth will come out
when the president speaks he knows what he is saying and remember at the Kimberley meeting Mbeki stressed a point nenyaya iyi.chaputika vakomana tongoona hedu from afar…
True, when you come to power yourself through theft, what lesson are you teaching those below? Mobutu was asked the same question and his answer was : WAPUSA WAPUSA!
So, please there is nothing new here including himself. Africa will never become a first world and the cause of it is what we see now in full colour. TENDER BOARD; ZESA (and their prepayment meters and CFLs) NETONE, TELONE, ZMDC, SIRDIC…the list is endless.
But may be the pressure is mounting now and the biggest thief feels the heat and thinks its time to stop stealing so that the resources help to reduce the mounting pressure. Civil servants will be upon him sooner than later. Damn it the MDC T Govt worked under the same sanctions. But hospitals were opened and water started to flow…all having died during ZANU PF thieves time. Lets see …Hapana vision apa. Kuba chete!
That’s what happens when you deal with thugs and you think that you are special and untouchable. The same way that they can sacrifice one of there touts in Mbare is the same way that they can just sacrifice a minister. Its just a matter of convinience as a result of LAWLESSNESS…Sungwa benzi wakambotishungurudza nema price ConTrols ako…
Mr President , you are a joke.I heard that having white hair is a sign of wisdom sorry yours is dyed black chemical yakapinda muuropi.
THERE ARE LOADS OF CORRUPT MINISTERS. CORRUPTION IS A ZANUPF CANCER AND CULTURE. POOR MASI, WHO IS NEXT! HA HA HA DZARAKANA, TATE.
May be a tip of an iceberg.Regai tione.But if mugabe is really serious bout curbing corruption then he must go for the sharks not the sardines.
“When corruption is at higher levels, it becomes policy. Corruption at the bottom level becomes theft and they go to jail,” Zvarwadza moyo kuti vadiki varikuzvigona sei ..hehehehe seka zvako mwana wevhu !!
Why leave vana Obert Mpofu,Kasukuwere,and tonnes and tonnes of other Zanu Pf guys.
Iwe GM, hunhu rudziyi kuti vakwasha vanodhimanda fufuro kwatezvara? Asi wakanzwa tsumo yechisalad yekuti mukwasha mukuyu haaperi kudiridzirwa ukafunga kuti ndeyechivanhu chechokwadi? Next time pliz lets respect vana tsano.