HARARE
–
Corruption-accused
business
partners
Moses
Mpofu
and
Mike
Chimombe
took
the
witness
stand
on
Tuesday
as
they
asked
a
court
to
refer
their
case
to
the
Constitutional
Court.
Appearing
before
Justice
Pisirayi
Kwenda
of
the
Harare
High
Court,
the
duo
argued
that
their
rights
to
liberty
and
legal
protection
were
violated
by
Michael
Reza,
the
head
of
the
Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption
Commission
(ZACC),
when
he
stopped
their
release
on
bail.
Under
the
guidance
of
their
lawyer,
Ashiel
Mugiya,
Mpofu
expressed
his
astonishment
upon
being
charged
in
connection
with
a
tender
to
supply
goats
to
the
government,
when
an
initial
invitation
to
speak
to
investigators
from
the
Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption
commission
stated
that
he
would
be
answering
questions
over
alleged
corruption
in
over
US$100
million
in
contracts
awarded
by
the
Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission
to
South
African
company,
Ren-Form
CC
and
its
business
partner,
Wicknell
Chivayo.
“I
was
in
China
when
I
started
receiving
calls
and
messages
from
friends
and
family
who
informed
me
that
I
was
being
sought
by
ZACC.
The
situation
was
also
circulating
on
social
media,
where
the
ZACC
chairperson
(Reza)
commented
on
leaked
audio
recordings
(of
Chivayo).
He
said
they
had
evidence
(about
ZEC
contracts
corruption)
and
wished
to
interview
myself,
Mike
Chimombe,
and
Chivayo,”
he
explained.
Mpofu
said
upon
their
return
to
Zimbabwe,
they
attended
an
appointment
at
ZACC
with
their
lawyers,
anticipating
an
interview
about
the
ZEC
tender.
Instead,
they
were
solely
questioned
about
allegations
that
they
had
been
given
millions
of
dollars
by
the
lands
ministry
to
buy
86,000
goats
and
they
had
only
supplied
6,978.
Chimombe
supported
Mpofu’s
testimony,
claiming
selective
prosecution
in
their
case
since
Chivayo
–
who
was
their
business
partner
when
they
won
the
initial
ZEC
contracts
worth
US$40
million
–
had
not
been
called
in
for
questioning.
The
two
asserted
that
their
prosecution
was
a
direct
result
of
the
leaked
Chivayo
audios
over
the
ZEC
contracts.
They
were
being
punished
because
a
large
chunk
of
the
cash
had
gone
to
senior
government
officials
who
facilitated
the
corruption.
These
powerful
people,
they
said,
wanted
to
cover
up
their
corruption
and
had
fashioned
the
charges
against
them
to
shield
Chivayo.
“When
we
had
a
meeting
with
Chivayo
on
the
payment
modalities,
he
told
us
that
the
money
was
not
going
to
be
shared
equally,
he
said
the
bulk
of
the
money
was
supposed
to
go
to
his
people
in
government
and
we
were
not
going
to
get
a
fair
share,”
Mpofu
told
the
court.
Mpofu
and
Chimombe
noted
that
they
had
seen
Reza
present
in
court
prior
to
their
first
appearance
and
remarked
that
the
prosecutor
general
had
agreed
to
grant
them
bail.
Despite
the
fact
that
the prosecutor
general
had
initially
set
conditions
requiring
them
to
surrender
their
title
deeds,
passports,
and
pay
US$1,000
bail
each,
Reza
altered
those
terms.
This
resulted
in
them
being
denied
bail.
The
hearing
continues.