By John Mokwetsi
THE net is closing in on senior Zanu PF and government officials who abused the subsidised fuel facility meant for the agricultural sector.
Manicaland war veteran, Enock Saidani, yesterday became the first A2 farmer to face charges of selling subsidised fuel on the black market.
Saidani allegedly sold 17 600 litres of diesel on the illegal parallel market between June 2005 and 10 February this year.Saidani owns Mazonwe Farm 4 in Mutare and was arrested last week after the government launched a probe to establish how fuel meant for farming activities had been used.
The Standard last week exposed a list of several high-ranking Zanu PF and government officials under investigation for abusing the fuel facility.
The government, anxious to ensure the success of its "agrarian revolution", provided subsidised petrol at $11 000 and diesel at $13 500 a litre to A2 farmers, most of them Zanu PF stalwarts. However the facility was widely abused as the fuel was immediately sold on the black market.
The abuse is partly responsible for Zimbabwe's food crisis.Saidani appeared before a Mutare Magistrate, Fabian Feshete, facing charges of abusing 17 600 litres of diesel valued at $193.6 million at the subsidised price.The State alleges that from 1 June 2005 to 10 February 2006, Saidani acquired diesel from NOCZIM Mutare ostensibly for ploughing his fields.
Court documents, however, show that he sold the diesel allocated to him on the black market.Saidani applied for bail but the magistrate reserved the ruling to tomorrow.
The State argued, through acting area public prosecutor Levison Chikafu, that Saidani was not a suitable candidate for bail and was most likely to abscond. "There is a possibility for a conviction in this matter given the evidence against the accused.
Prospects of a lengthy custodial sentence will induce the accused to abscond," said Chikafu during his submissions against granting of bail.Defence lawyers, said the accused was a respectable citizen since he is a war veteran who fought for the liberation of the country.
The prosecution is likely to send shivers among other Zanu PF and government heavyweights, who were beneficiaries of the fuel facility, but whose questionable agricultural production is the subject of an on-going probe.
Investigations have already been instituted countrywide, starting in Manicaland, where senior government officials and well-connected individuals allegedly abused the fuel facility by re-selling the scarce commodity.Zimbabwe has been reeling from acute fuel shortages which have brought the former vibrant economy to its knees.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Mugabe's Murderous Plan
By John Mokwetsi
Mugabe's murderous plan
The next steps in the elimination of the MDC opposition in Zimbabwe
While the laughable "talks" about a peaceful solution to the political crisis stutter on, and while the general level of violence and fear ratchets up across the country, the military junta behind Mugabe move on remorselessly.
At the end of last week the five main Junta leaders - Constantine Chiwenga, Augustine Chihuru, Perrence Shiri, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Paradzai Zimondi - held a secret meeting with their President.
Details of that meeting have been passed on to me by a sympathetic source close to the junta. They reveal a comprehensive plan to, and I quote, "target and eliminate the MDC from the political map of Zimbabwe".
The plan covers all levels of government - cell, ward, district, province and national - and is backed by a general order to the security forces and the militia to increase the every-day level of violence against opposition supporters.
One specific measure is designed to wipe out the victory which the MDC secured in the recent elections, when they achieved a majority of seats in Parliament. This is how it will work.
Successful MDC candidates are to be targeted, attacked and threatened until they retreat into hiding or exile. When they have been absent from Parliament for 21 days their seats can be declared vacant, and a new by-election held. This time round MDC supporters will be cowed into voting for Zanu-PF.
Part of the new plan also takes into consideration the unfavourable stories that independent journalists have been leaking to the western media from inside Zimbabwe. The solution to that problem, the Junta leaders told Mugabe, is a simple one. Death - or the threat of it - to the journalists.
Action against some reporters has already begun, and several have taken steps to protect their families, then gone into hiding. A colleague who worked for the Zimbabwe Independent was recently abducted, beaten, and threatened with death unless he revealed his sources within Zanu-PF. Temporarily freed, he managed to cross the border to comparative safety in South Africa.
Meanwhile, on the international scene, Britain and America are still considering their options following the failure of their optimistic approach to the United Nations Security Council. Britain is now expected to ask the European Union to bring pressure on Zimbabwe.
Somehow I don't believe any action by the EU is going to have our dapper president trembling in his made-to-measure shoes.
Mugabe's murderous plan
The next steps in the elimination of the MDC opposition in Zimbabwe
While the laughable "talks" about a peaceful solution to the political crisis stutter on, and while the general level of violence and fear ratchets up across the country, the military junta behind Mugabe move on remorselessly.
At the end of last week the five main Junta leaders - Constantine Chiwenga, Augustine Chihuru, Perrence Shiri, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Paradzai Zimondi - held a secret meeting with their President.
Details of that meeting have been passed on to me by a sympathetic source close to the junta. They reveal a comprehensive plan to, and I quote, "target and eliminate the MDC from the political map of Zimbabwe".
The plan covers all levels of government - cell, ward, district, province and national - and is backed by a general order to the security forces and the militia to increase the every-day level of violence against opposition supporters.
One specific measure is designed to wipe out the victory which the MDC secured in the recent elections, when they achieved a majority of seats in Parliament. This is how it will work.
Successful MDC candidates are to be targeted, attacked and threatened until they retreat into hiding or exile. When they have been absent from Parliament for 21 days their seats can be declared vacant, and a new by-election held. This time round MDC supporters will be cowed into voting for Zanu-PF.
Part of the new plan also takes into consideration the unfavourable stories that independent journalists have been leaking to the western media from inside Zimbabwe. The solution to that problem, the Junta leaders told Mugabe, is a simple one. Death - or the threat of it - to the journalists.
Action against some reporters has already begun, and several have taken steps to protect their families, then gone into hiding. A colleague who worked for the Zimbabwe Independent was recently abducted, beaten, and threatened with death unless he revealed his sources within Zanu-PF. Temporarily freed, he managed to cross the border to comparative safety in South Africa.
Meanwhile, on the international scene, Britain and America are still considering their options following the failure of their optimistic approach to the United Nations Security Council. Britain is now expected to ask the European Union to bring pressure on Zimbabwe.
Somehow I don't believe any action by the EU is going to have our dapper president trembling in his made-to-measure shoes.
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