Mawere accuses Zimbabwe government of stealing his cash to pay the IMF

By Violet Gonda

20 September 2005

The government of Robert Mugabe has been accused of stealing from private companies to pay part of its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Speaking on his way to South Africa from the UK, businessman Mutumwa Mawere told us that part of the US$120 million paid to the IMF came from his seized companies.
This reinforces earlier allegations that the government raided people’s forex accounts to pay the IMF. Mawere said he is not the only one being targeted, saying there are others like James Makamba, Chris Kuruneri and a host of bankers.

Mugabe’s finance officials Gideon Gono and Herbert Murerwa went to the USA recently to pay the US$120m to the IMF to reduce the US$295m debt. This resulted in the regime being given 6 months to look for some more money.
Mawere said if the IMF is an accomplice in this criminality then obviously they’d be part and parcel of the problem. He has written a letter to the IMF to show that the government used proceeds from his confiscated companies to help repay the IMF. Copies were also sent to the United Nations and World Bank.

Mawere was accused of externalising foreign currency and was specified under the Prevention of Corruption Act last year. He said the presidential decree, which was followed by the act of parliament, gave the state the right to take over private assets without compensation.
It’s reported that his mines, together with his companies in finance, insurance and agriculture, were seized and he lost his flagship business, Shabanie Mashaba Mines, which he had bought from British company Turner & Newell in 1996, to the state.

The businessman said even if he was accused of any crime, “it should be proven in a court of law.” He said this is a crime that is being committed by the government. “It’s very easy to be a criminal in Zimbabwe. The threshold is so low it just takes the Governor of the Central Bank to say this act is illegal and you are sabotaging his so-called turnaround efforts. The next day the police are after you and your assets are taken,” he said.

Mawere was arrested in SA last year, but freed after Zimbabwe failed in its bid to get him extradited.