Harare – Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa is understood to have threatened to shoot police officers investigating him for allegedly dealing in gold and foreign currency, ZimOnline has learnt. Authoritative sources said the policemen now feared for their lives following the alleged threats by Mnangagwa, a close associate of President Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa is also touted as a possible successor to Mugabe. According to the sources the investigating officers had told Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri about the alleged threats but he also appeared unable to do much. It was not possible since Monday this week to get a comment on the matter from Mnangagwa. His mobile phone was continuously unreachable. His secretary at Parliament promised the Speaker was going to call ZimOnline. He had not called by late last night. Chihuri could also not be reached for comment while police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena refused to discuss the matter. One of the police officers said to have been threatened by Mnangagwa, Musarashana Mabunda, confirmed he was indeed investigating the Speaker. But he denied he had had any confrontation with the powerful Zanu PF politician. Mabunda, who is a chief superintendent with the police’s Special Investigations Unit, however said that he was aware that another police officer also probing Mnangagwa on another matter had an altercation with the politician. He said: “I have been involved in the case. But I have never met Mnangagwa and he does not even know my face. He has never threatened me. I know that he had a confrontation with another police officer over some investigations but that was not me.” Mabunda is investigating Mnangagwa’s role in financial irregularities including illegal externalisation of foreign currency by some Zanu PF-owned companies. Mnangagwa, who is secretary for administration in Zanu PF, was for a long time the party’s finance secretary and supervised its companies. He also sits on the board of ZIDCO Holdings, the holding company of Zanu PF’s businesses.

The sources said Mnangagwa in July this year summoned Mabunda to his office at Parliament where he told the policeman to stop investigating him or he would be shot dead. “He (Mabunda) was summoned to Parliament where he was shown three bullets which Mnangagwa said were reserved for police officers who were sniffing around. He was told that he could be a beneficiary of the bullets if he continued with his investigations,” one source said on condition he was not named. Another police officer, only identified as Nyamupaguma, was also allegedly threatened with death by Mnangagwa after he visited him last May at his office at Parliament. Nyamupaguma wanted to question Mnangagwa about his alleged links to an illegal gold trading racket in the Midlands province, where the politician comes from. The Speaker is also said to have in April this year summoned police assistant commissioner Boysen Mathema to his office where he is said to have quizzed him about who was sending the police officers after him. “He (Mnangagwa) asked Mathema where the police were getting the nerve to investigate him. But then Mathema is not really in charge of the investigation,” said a senior police officer closely linked to the matter. According to the officer, assistant police commissioner Chris Gora was heading the probe into Mnangagwa. He is deputised by Mabunda. For many years the front-runner to succeed Mugabe, Mnangagwa was earlier this year hauled before a party committee investigating the operations of businesses owned by the party. He was also accused by the United Nations of taking part in the looting of diamonds and other resources from the Democratic Republic of the Congo during that country’s civil war.

From Zim Online (SA), 2 September
Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com