Robert Mugabe’s cabinet divided over fertiliser scandal

By Tichaona Sibanda
21 November 2006

All is not well in Robert Mugabe’s cabinet following a series of personal clashes between rival cabinet ministers over the acquisition of sub-standard fertiliser by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Last week The Zimbabwe Standard revealed that over 70 000 tonnes of fertiliser worth about US$300 000 was imported from South Africa. The fertilizer was condemned as unsuitable by Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, who stopped farmers from using it, promising them compensation.

And now the country’s spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation, is investigating the importation of the unsuitable fertilizer, amid reports that Grain Marketing Board chief Samuel Muvuti could have been bribed to distribute it.

Media reports from Harare said the CIO is already probing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and Made over allegations the two connived to import the poor grade Compound D fertilizer from a South African firm, in return for kickbacks.

The Standard said Gono and Made denied any wrong doing and at a press briefing in Harare last weekend the two said only 800 tonnes of the imported fertilizer had been found to contain a lower sulphur content, making it unsuitable for Zimbabwean soils.

ZimOnline said Tuesday that the CIO is pressing on with the probe and was now also targeting Muvuti after the GMB chief executive initially questioned the quality of the fertilizer only to backtrack and allow it to be distributed to unsuspecting farmers.

MDC MP for Nkayi in Matebeleland North Abednigo Bhebhe said scandals like the one involving the sub-standard fertiliser were now seriously undermining the country.

He said instead of spending time trying to govern the country, Mugabe and his cabinet were looking for scapegoats to take the blame over trivial issues.

‘There have become so corrupt that they are willing to let the nation suffer because a few people wanted to make quick money from the fertilizer that turned out to be the sub-standard,’ Bhebhe said.

The fertilizer saga took a sinister twist this week as it emerged that one of the South African companies involved was allegedly used by a local businessman two years ago to defraud the Grain Marketing Board of billions of dollars.

Documents seen by the Zimbabwe Standard indicate that Industrial Commodity Holdings (ICH), one of the companies which supplied the sub-standard fertilizer to Zimbabwe, is also implicated in the on-going trial of Harare businessman Cyril Muderede as being part of the syndicate that fleeced the GMB of billion of dollars. Muderede is currently out on bail.