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The Herald
Political Editor
Skeletons are now falling on the MDC-T party amid allegations that Douglas Mwonzora, the fugitive winner in Sunday’s disputed party presidential election, misused nearly $ 6 million of party funds.
However, Mwonzora, who got 883 votes out of Dr. Khupe’s measly 118 votes, to become the main chairman of the opposition party, said the accusations are unfounded and intended to tarnish his name.
Mr. Mwonzora and Dr. Khupe were fighting Messrs. Morgen Komichi and Elias Mudzuri, who respectively obtained nine and 14 votes in a poll marred by violence that included verbal and physical attacks on the former Deputy Prime Minister.
However, Mwonzora’s victory has turned into a bitter pill for the losing candidates who want him arrested for allegedly abusing party funds.
In a police report made on Saturday, the day before the congress, Mr. Patson Marimoga claimed that Mr. Mwonzora withdrew money from the party’s accounts without the express authorization of other leaders on the opposition’s national standing committee. This is despite the fact that Dr. Khupe herself had already exonerated Mr. Mwonzora.
“At some point in December 2020, the government of Zimbabwe awarded $ 14 million to the MDC-T party through the Political Party Financing Act. The funds were deposited into MDC-T BancABC account number 50863225502015 Heritage Branch.
“On December 18, 2020, the accused person (Mr. Mwonzora) transferred funds from the MDC-T part of said bank account to (Bell Petroleum Banc ABC account number 15104045502014). The funds were transferred in the following batches: $ 2,400,000, $ 1,755,000, $ 1,800,000, for a total of $ 5,955,000.
“The MDC-T party had no relationship or contract with said company and as such the accused person was stealing funds from the party’s account. Furthermore, the transfer of funds was not approved by the MDC executive. The total value stolen is $ 5,955,000 and nothing was recovered ”, reads the police report CR: 2236/12/2020.
Police spokesman Deputy Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed that a police report had been made against Mr. Mwonzora with the police commercial crimes unit in charge of the matter.
Once again, in a letter written by the MDC-T Deputy Treasurer, Mr. Chief Ndlovu, on Christmas Day, Mr. Mwonzora was charged with the same charges which, however, he dismissed as a ploy by his rivals before the Congress last Sunday to discredit him.
A few hours after losing the election to Mwonzora due to a landslide, Dr. Khupe also indicated that Mwonzora had stolen more than $ 6 million from the party’s coffers.
“First, he (Mwonzora) took $ 300,000 from the party coffers without anyone knowing and we said he was fine. And then $ 6 million is missing as we speak now; cannot account for money.
“If you watch this whole conference, it’s happening on credit. I had to do everything possible together with the national president (Morgen Komichi), we had to ask for credit, and yet he has $ 6 million. That’s the $ 6 million he used to rig this election and I can’t let this go forward. “
But Dr. Khupe’s statement is a curious twist after she exonerated Mr. Mwonzora on December 17 from helping himself with the $ 300,000, through a letter to police that said in part “To avoid doubts from our records, money was never stolen from our party by anyone, much less Senator Mwonzora. All of our money has been accounted for in full and all transactions were successful. In short, Senator Mwonzora did not steal money from MDC T as alleged by Mr. Chisvo. We are surprised that after informing him of this matter, Mr. Chisvo went to the press to publish these accusations himself ”.
For his part, Mr Mwonzora said the charges were part of the defamation of his rivals saying that every penny has been accounted for by the party executive.
“From the breakdown until now, it is clear that of the $ 14.9 million there is no shortage of money at all. The breakdown that was submitted to the standing committee is open to inspection by all party members. The impression that a single person can withdraw money from our bank account is clearly misleading. To withdraw money from our account there is always more than the department involved. There is no way that one person can withdraw money from our accounts, ”said Mr. Mwonzora.
Dr. Khupe’s camp yesterday convened a virtual meeting of the national council that, among other things, addressed the disputed extraordinary congress and its outcome.
Mr. Komichi, who resumed his role as party chairman, confirmed the meeting but could not give details on the outcome.
