Zimbabwe: Tourism minister arrested for corruption

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) - Zimbabwe’s Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira was arrested Thursday over alleged corruption charges while at the helm of National Social Security Authority (NSSA).

NSSA is Zimbabwe’s publicly run pension fund under the stewardship of the country’s Public Service Ministry.

In March this year, the Southern African nation’s Auditor-General Mildred Chiri handed over a report allegedly detailing the financial improprieties at NSSA to current Labor Minister Sekai Nzenza, but she is yet to table the report before parliament as is required by law.

It is the same report that the country’s anti-graft body has used to descend on Mupfumira.

Meanwhile, Minister Mupfumira who previously headed the Labor Ministry before the advent of her successor, Nzenza, is currently in the hands of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) whose officials picked her for questioning from her Harare home.

ZACC is a body that has the constitutional mandate to corruption and it is administered under the Office of the president and cabinet.

In a statement Thursday, ZACC confirmed that they have picked up the minister of tourism over charges relating to the abuse of NSSA funds as pronounced by the Auditor General in her report.

"We can confirm that the Minister of Tourism is currently in our custody for questioning and possible due processes. We cannot respond to any questions at the moment as this is a live process.''

''The press will be informed through a release later in the day. We will keep updating," ZACC said in a statement.

A Zimbabwean independent parliamentarian for Norton Constituency, Temba Mliswa, has been recently on record accusing Mupfumira of stealing and misusing NSSA funds which she allegedly used to exert her influence on several politicians in her governing party, the Zimbabwe Africa National Union Patriotic Front.

In one of the tweets, Mliswa said, "I heard Hon Mupfumira on the radio saying that there are outside people who are trying to infiltrate ZANU PF.''

''This is a deflection of issues. There are no outsiders, she is doing the handiwork in destroying ZANU PF in Mashwest herself! Using stolen NSSA funds, she's buying Abby Gava, Munondo and Nduna. The Chinhoyi School is not Mutisi, it is hers! Let us call for a lifestyle audit on Charles Mutisi. She pays the media in Mash West, using the money of poor pensioners,'' Mliswa wrote.

''The NSSA Forensic Audit was the President first indication to whip people into line where corruption is concerned. I pushed for that forensic audit and I called out the likes of Kudenga in being implicated in that audit,'' Mliswa claimed.