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Muchinguri ally in stands scam

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FORMER Zanu PF Manicaland provincial youth commissar Washington Ziwiwi has been accused of fleecing party members of various amounts of money after promising them to secure residential stands and gold claims.

FORMER Zanu PF Manicaland provincial youth commissar Washington Ziwiwi has been accused of fleecing party members of various amounts of money after promising them to secure residential stands and gold claims.

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

1-land stands development housing

Ziwiwi, a close ally of Manicaland “godmother” and Environment minister Oppah Muchinguri, was named in the alleged scam during a Zanu PF inter-district meeting in Mutasa over the weekend.

Mutasa district Zanu PF youth secretary for transport, Chipo Barara, told the meeting that Ziwiwi had failed to account for the money and became evasive.

“Ziwiwi told us around 2013 that we should have stands and we were encouraged to pay $20 as joining fee and $5 monthly subscription. He said he was doing it under Mutasa Savings Credit Cooperative. l don’t have the actual number of youths, but many of us committed to the idea,’’ he said.

“He (Ziwiwi) opened an office here in Mutasa district and he had a secretary where all the money was collected, but at the moment he is not giving us a clear picture. The other matter is that he told us that Redwing Mine wanted to give us gold claims and we should pay $50 each and some members paid, but nothing materialised.’

But Ziwiwi yesterday denied the embezzlement allegations saying they were meant to tarnish his political image.

“There is a sinister motive to tarnish my image on factional grounds and l am ready for them. We are aware of people who are trying to pull me down because of the developmental projects l am doing,’’ Ziwiwi said.

“We founded the Mutasa Savings Credit Co-operative where we said youths should contribute and so that we can have our own projects and we had a secretariat which collected the money. They paid $20 as joining fee and some monthly subscription.”

He added: “But, we realised that later that some members were not paying up and with political bickering, everything was no longer going well. We had raised around $2 500 and we bought a sawmill since we had signed a contract with timber company Allied Timbers.”

Ziwiwi said party youths later joined the Mutasa District Trust, which was founded by war veterans, adding that the $50 they paid was used in registering the Trust and other logistics.

“We joined Mutasa District Trust, which was founded by war veterans and the aim was to push Redwing Mine to provide us with claims since they were also operating in Mutasa. The $50 they paid was used in registering the Trust and other logistics,” he added.

Ziwiwi was last year suspended from his position on allegations of fanning factionalism in the ruling party.