Without the benefit of the facts, I have come to realize that it is, indeed, important that I explain the context and content of the allegations so that your readers and anyone interested can make an informed judgment on the matter.

You may be aware that externalization only became a criminal offence after the appointment of Gideon Gono to the RBZ in November 2003. Prior to that, it was a civil offence and, therefore, punishable by a fine. Externalization falls under the Exchange Control Act and is applicable only to residents of Zimbabwe who are obliged to remit their foreign currency through authorized dealers.

However, the economic situation in Zimbabwe has been deteriorating continuously since 1997 and the foreign exchange situation has also not been any better resulting in the state manipulating the exchange rate and setting it at unrealistic levels. The actions of the state created the black or parallel market where most rational economic actors would rely on the market for supply of foreign currency. Exporters were then penalized with a low exchange rate while the state using principally the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe where Gono was the CEO used the black market to access foreign currency.

Governor Tsumba could not act on CBZ and other banks that were openly trading foreign currency in the black market because he knew that the state was the chief culprit in creating the distortions. This behaviour continued unabated and ensured that foreign currency was available, albeit, at a high cost. For your readers who are in the Diaspora, they can relate to the absurd situation where if they transferred their hard earned money through the official channels, they would be insulted with Zimbabwean dollars that were a fraction of what they could obtain in the black market.

Some of the readers may be aware that I was one of the champions of the drive to get non-resident Zimbabweans to invest in their home country. However, the exchange policies were not conducive for such investment and the government flatly refused to acknowledge that it was important to reward holders of foreign currency with an attractive exchange rate.

Against this backdrop, Gono was appointed Governor and he promised to single handedly turnaround the economic fortunes of the country. Those that are naïve believed that he could deliver without making any fundamental economic and political reforms. He chose to target the black market and introduced new monetary measures that essentially transferred the powers of commercial banks to the Reserve Bank and converted the central bank into an omnibus bank that not only acts as a referee but also as a player ignoring the provisions of the Reserve Bank Act. He then chose to create a new window to support exporters who were getting a raw deal in the foreign exchange market. The window was called the Productive Sector Facility whereby exporters could borrow funds at low interest rate from their banks as a compensation for the arbitrarily determined exchange rate.

However, the lending was controlled by the Reserve Bank and Gono was directly involved in deciding who should access the funds although all exporters were exposed to the same exchange rate. There was a distinct policy shift from treating foreign currency as property of the exporter to making it part of the state property and hence anyone trading in foreign currency was seen as an enemy of the state or appropriately a criminal. The first highly visible victim was businessman James Makamba who was arrested on allegations of externalization. When the state failed to prefer charges against him during the prescribed 48 hours from the time of arrest, the law was then changed classifying externalization as a worse crime that even murder. Your readers are aware that Makamba spent more than six months in remand prison and his world record has only been surpassed by former Minister Kuruneri.

The accusations against me originated from a variety of sources including Gono who I had problems with regarding the illegal conversion of my company’s foreign currency by CBZ and the diversion of the premium to an unexplained brokerage account that he operated. Although CBZ refunded my company the prejudiced amount of Z$10 million, I was clear when he was appointed Governor that it was payback time for me. This issue has already been reported in the Zimbabwean media. The second problem related to the ban of the NDA TV program by ZBC when Gono was the Chairman of the Board. Gono who was appointed by Professor Moyo was the one who ordered the ban following the appearance of an MDC Member of Parliament on the live show.

The other source of the allegations came from a white businessman of Portuguese origin, Roger De Sa, who owned a company called Zincar and a restaurant called Danai. He was a joint venture partner with ZANU-PF in a company called Fibrolite that manufactures asbestos cement roofing sheets. The company is owned jointly by the party and a close connection of De Sa who is based in Portugal. The friend was also a customer of Shabanie Mashaba Mines (Private) Limited (SMM). De Sa convinced his Portuguese friend that he should be appointed the exclusive agent for Zimbabwean asbestos although Portugal had already been allocated to another agent, C.J. Petrow. Initially, De Sa who was also a customer of SMM through Fibrolite wanted to buy asbestos in Zimbabwean dollars and he would then export as a principal and get the foreign currency directly.

When this proposal was rejected by SMM management, he then lobbied his powerful political friends. I was then summoned by one of his friends who wanted to know why De Sa’s proposal was rejected by SMM. At the time, I did not have any background on the issue and then called management of SMM to explain the background and why they had rejected the proposal. They managed to explain that the proposal was prejudicial to the company and the country in that De Sa wanted to externalize the proceeds. After the explanation, De Sa’s friend appeared to understand the problem. However, SMM then received a letter from the Portuguese customer with an ultimatum that if Mr. De Sa was not appointed an agent, they would stop buying from Zimbabwe. It was only then that De Sa’s Zimbabwean company was appointed an agent and the commission was paid to an offshore bank account.

When rumours started spreading that the police were looking for me on allegations of externalization, I then presented myself to the police and deposed to an affidavit. However, your readers will not hear about my cooperation with the police in their investigations. The police then arrested De Sa on allegations of externalization and I understand that he spent about two weeks in prison with James Makamba. He was then released and wrote a letter to President Mugabe apologizing for breaking the law and he was forgiven. After his release he boasted that he would destroy my business empire. The late Josiah Tungamirai who had been in contact with De Sa warned me that the man was well connected and I should watch my back.

The other camp was the Tsholotsho camp whose representatives i.e. Messrs. Chiyangwa and July Moyo had approached me seeking my financial support for the project. Chiyangwa invited me to his house to meet with former Minister July Moyo who both warned me of the dangers of not supporting their project financially. I declined to be involved and Minister July Moyo who is a relative of Gwaradzimba and who also appointed Manikai to the NSSA board threatened me that if I did not support the project, my businesses were in jeopardy. I told them that I would rather lose the businesses than be part of the project. After that Minister July Moyo recruited then former Minister of Mines, Chindori-Chininga, who then targeted SMM.

We attended an asbestos conference in India in November 2003 and both Ministers were there. They confirmed the threats and said that the right of SMM to market its asbestos was going to be withdrawn. After the India visit, I believe that it was the Tsholotsho team than engineered my election in absentia as a strategy to convince the President that I was not patriotic since the same group may have been spreading the rumour that they were behind my business success. The marketing dispensation was withdrawn and the productive sector facility was politicized. All these actions were meant to show that they could crash me.

After putting my businesses on the spotlight, and with developments at the First Bank, I was then targeted personally. A meeting was held at the mine prior to the state takeover where workers were told that the government was going to takeover the mines. To create a nexus for the state, they needed to come up with a strategy to criminalize me. As a non-resident Zimbabwean, they knew they had a problem even of sustaining an externalization charge let alone a corruption charge. The Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of Zimbabwe has no provision for shareholders to be prosecuted on offences alleged to be committed by a company. I have not set on any Zimbabwean board since 1997 and, therefore, it was impossible for them to lay any charges against me. They then chose the extradition route where the state alleged that I had run away from Zimbabwe and they wanted me for the purpose of investigations. However, when my lawyers challenged them on this misrepresentation of facts, they could not explain how a non-resident Zimbabwean and a citizen of South Africa could be accused of being a fugitive from a country that he was not a resident of. The application for extradition was dismissed.

With respect to the externalization charges, I provide herewith correspondence on the matter (available on request) that may help explain the situation. You will note from the correspondence that the Chairman of Southern Asbestos Sales (Pty) Limited (SAS) did try to explain the situation on behalf of the company regarding the charges. You will also note from the correspondence that the government through the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe Limited (MMCZ) has been encouraging SAS customers not to pay. The Chairman of SAS, Mr. Mariemuthu visited Zimbabwe several times to explain how the companies were operating. He met with the Minister of Finance, the Attorney General and the police. However, they were not prepared to entertain any explanation and it appeared that the instructions from the top were that the government’s decision to nationalize my businesses was not going to be reversed. The correspondence will assist your readers to better understand the mind set in Zimbabwe.

One of the serious allegations that appear to be motivating the government is that I chose to take South African citizenship which action is treated as treason. For abandoning Zimbabwe, the logic goes that I should not have anything to do with the country. For Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who have decided to take foreign citizenship for one reason or another, the implications are clear on owning assets in the country. I believe that it is important that your readers apply their minds to this case because in it you will discover how insecure we are if we have the confidence to invest in our own native country.

Contact Mutumwa Mawere: mmawere@aol.com
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