Mwenezi East MP Kudakwashe Bhasikiti (Zanu PF), who is also a member of the African Parliament Against Corruption, has reportedly been implicated in a scam in which he is accused of having misappropriated resources meant for the construction of party offices in his constituency.
Disgruntled Zanu PF members claimed sometime in 2008, Bhasikiti initiated a project to build party offices at Rutenga, Mwenezi East. He allegedly coerced party supporters to mould bricks and pay $1 per household towards the project.
But, Bhasikiti rubbished the allegations, and told NewsDay the claims were from his detractors.
Bhasikiti reportedly allegedly received game meat and beef from neighbouring commercial farmers and ranchers as part of their contribution towards the construction of the Zanu PF offices.
The party members said the MP also got contributions in the form of game meat from wildlife conservancies in Bubi Valley, but reportedly sold it to Masvingo Polytechnic, Masvingo Teachers’ College, Great Zimbabwe University, Morgenster Teachers’ College and Bondolf Teachers’ College. He however allegedly failed to account for the money raised from the meat sales.
In addition, thousands of bricks moulded by Zanu PF youths towards the building of party offices have since been diverted and have been used to build a house for self- proclaimed war veteran Aleck Murefu, believed to be one of the MP’s close allies in the constituency.
However, Murefu claims to have borrowed the bricks to build his house and said he would reimburse them when required.
“This is very bad and worrying because we took turns to mould these bricks only to see someone using them to build his own house,” complained Moses Shiri, a Zanu PF youth in the resettlement area.
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Bhasikiti said: “I initiated the project when I was the district chairperson and then got promoted to the province. All allegations are lies because anyone had the right to go and buy meat for resale. We did not make people pay for the party office, we asked for well-wishers to donate towards the project. Whatever happened to the bricks and other materials must be known by the current district chairperson Kennedy Sibanda.”
Sibanda, however, denied involvement, saying: “Murefu did not consult with anyone to borrow the bricks, and we only heard it after he had used them and he assured us that he would make up for them.”
