Zimbabwe Minister Kasukuwere’s 50 bed room mansion

Zimbabwe Minister Kasukuwere’s 50 bed room mansion

Zimbabwe Minister Kasukuwere’s 50 bed room mansion



Zimbabwe Minister Kasukuwere’s 50 bed room mansion

ZANU-PF cadres loyal to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa are pushing to have Kasukuwere arrested over his handling of the country’s many Community Share Ownership Schemes (CSOSs).

On Tuesday Kasukuwere for the second week running failed to turn up for the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment to answer Brainworks corruption charges.

The spotlight has particularly been on indigenisation deals involving mining companies namely the Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Zimplats), Mimosa, Blanket Mine and Unki — owned by Anglo America Corporation.
At the time these transactions were negotiated, Kasukuwere was the indigenisation minister.

Former Hurungwe West independent Temba Mliswa has dared Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) commissioner general Gershem Pasi to collect taxes from elite politicians like Kasukuwere whom he alleges is building a monstrous house with many rooms.

“I would like to throw simple questions, Kasukuwere the house you are building in Glen Lorne, three floors with an elevator and over 50 bedrooms.  He owes me $13 000 from service station rentals.  How then did he get the money?” queried Mliswa during a recent news conference in Harare.

He added: “Zimra, I mean Gershem Pasi is busy going for small boys, why can’t he go for these big boys. That’s my challenge for Gershem Pasi. Go for these big boys. Let’s see where the money is coming from. The moment that you say I’m now this rich, we start asking have you been paying tax.  If you are a true leader you must pay your tax”.

“The other guys who are purporting to be rich do so while Zimra is sitting on millions of what they owe but because they have political connections and so forth, it’s just being put on hold,” said Mliswa.

Kasukuwere responded saying Mliswa should not start “a war he can’t sustain” by publicly attacking him and Zanu PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo at campaign rallies, adding the ruling party might be forced to expose his dark past.

“If he thinks he has support as he claims, let us meet in Hurungwe West on June 10. He must not mistake the support he got riding on President Robert Mugabe’s name by saying it is him who is popular.

Soon we will exorcise his ghost just in the same way we have done with the MDC in the whole country,” Kasukuwere said.

Kasukuwere challenged Mliswa to reveal why he was kicked out of London if “he was really clean”.

“As they say, those who stay in glass houses must not throw stones, I plead with Mliswa to stop being malicious and desist from maligning our good standing. I, for one, my money is easily traceable. I can challenge anyone who wants to come and I will show the source of my small but appreciative wealth,” he said.

Kasukuwere added: “This guy must close his mouth for once before his evil deeds are put bare for all to see. He must learn to carry his own cross and not blame patriotic Zanu PF members for his political misfortune, but he must look straight in the eyes of his ambitious uncle, one Didymus Mutasa, and ask him why they wanted to kill the President.

“I will not lose sleep just because Mliswa has opened his mouth and uttered his nonsense. I am focused on growing the party and rescuing it from the jaws of corruption and selfish agendas which the Gamatox people wanted it to be at.”

Mayor Justice Wadyajena, the chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment is under increasing pressure from ZANU-PF hawks that feel threatened by Kasukuwere’s rising political stock to exert pressure on Parliament in order to have him investigated for his role in the CSOSs with a view to causing his arrest.

Despite his youthful age, Wadyajena has combined his financial clout, sharp tongue and extensive political connections to cause political tremors in ZANU-PF.

Despite his youthful age, Wadyajena has combined his financial clout, sharp tongue and extensive political connections to cause political tremors in ZANU-PF.

Towards the ZANU-PF congress held last year, he was one of the key architects behind former vice president Joice Mujuru’s downfall.

Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda last year indicated that Wadyajena’s could not summon Kasukuwere to appear before his committee and answer questions pertaining to issues that happened when he was still minister of youth, indigenisation and economic empowerment, the committee thinks otherwise.

Kasukuwere’s first summons were linked to the US$1,8 billion indigenisation deals that were handled by Brainworks Capital Management but never materialised.

How Brainworks was given a tender to be a consultant for the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board (NIEEB) without going to tender was one of the questions that Kasukuwere was supposed to answer before the committee.

Regardless of Mudenda’s advice, the committee has asked the ZANU-PF stalwart to come and answer questions on how the Marange-Zimunya Community Share Ownership Scheme was handled.Indications are that the committee intends to go beyond the Marange-Zimunya scheme to enquire from Kasukuwere how Brainworks came into the picture with regards to other empowerment transactions.

Under the Marange-Zimunya Community Share Ownership Scheme, some US$50 million was pledged, but only about half a million materialised ever since President Mugabe launched the scheme in 2012.

Wadyajena could not be contacted for comment. His mobile number was barred from all incoming calls.
However, that Brainworks chief executive officer, George Manyere, recently appeared before the committee professing ignorance over the government tender system and that his company was never paid a cent for their consultancy work, was quite telling of the brewing plot against Kasukuwere.

ZANU-PF informants said party snipers were angling to use the Parliament route to set their sights on Kasukuwere because he, along with newly appointed Education Minister Jonathan Moyo were being seen as the brains behind an obscure faction going by the name Generation 40, or simply G40, which seeks to renew ZANU-PF from within.