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PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA AND MANIKAI – AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE OR A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

Mutumwa Dziva Mawere

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BACKGROUND

Friends of Shabanie and Mashava Mines Trust (FOSMM), is organized as a discretionary trust and operates in terms of the laws of Zimbabwe.

It was established to act as a vehicle for connecting, equipping and inspiring members and
raising awareness about the importance of the rule of law in shaping and defining the
character of a value-centric society.

SMM Holdings Private Limited (SMM) was created as a private company in 1917. In March
1996, the company’s sole parent, SMM Holdings Limited (SMMH), a company duly
incorporate in terms of the laws of the United Kingdom (UK), that was in turn owned by T &
N Plc, a company registered and operating in terms of the laws of the UK, was acquired by
Africa Resources Limited (ARL).

ARL, a BVI registered company was wholly owned by Mr. Mutumwa Mawere, a
Zimbabwean-born South African resident and citizen since 2002

CESSION COURT ORDER

In December 2003, Dr. Gideon Gono was appointed as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ)
.Following his appointment, he proceeded to target SMM and its related companies
comprising 26 juristic entities employing more than 20,000 employees.

The initial cause of attack was foreign exchange related. Under Gono’s instruction, the
regime of forex retention whereby 75% of foreign exchange earned by SMM could be
retained for its own use was changed and reduced to an effective 25%.

This in simple terms meant that if SMM received $1 million from export sales, it was
required to sell $750K to the market at the official exchange rate and could only use $250K
to meet its important requirements.

The difference between the official and black-market rates was wide and significant allowing
for people in the RBZ selling the exported forex to special friends who would then sell this
scarce commodity through the black market and pocketing the windfall profits.

Between January and March 30, 2004, SMM was marketing its own asbestos products. With
effect from 1 April 2004, SMM’s exemption to market asbestos was terminated abruptly and
the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe Limited (MMCZ).

One of SAS’ agents, Southern Asbestos Sales Pty Limited (SAS), a company incorporated and
operating in terms of the SA laws, was responsible for invoicing SMM’s customers and
collecting funds from the sales that were then remitted to SMM in Zimbabwe.

As a direct consequence of the RBZ’s targeting, SMM was unable to use its forex to pay its
foreign creditors of which Petter Trading Pty Limited (Petter), a company incorporated and
operating in terms of the laws of SA, was the largest.

Petter approached the SA courts to obtain an order to allow it to collect from SAS what was
due to it but could no longer be paid by SMM.

The order was granted on 6 May 2004 per Van Oosten J.

EXRADITION OF MAWERE

On 17 May, 2004, a warrant of arrest was issued against Mr. Mawere, who was neither a
resident of Zimbabwe nor a director of SMM.It is worth highlighting that the exchange control regulations only apply to the residents of
Zimbabwe.

As set out below, the warrant was issued in terms of s5(1)(b) of the Extradition Act 67 of
1962.

The charges against Mr. Mawere were of fraud, alternatively contravention of the Exchange
Control Act of Zimbabwe.

What is strange in terms of this warrant is that it is stated that: “IT HAS BEEN ALLEGED THAT
HE (MAWERE) HAD COMMITTED THE SAID OFFENCES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
AND THEREFORE HE IS A PERSON LIABLE TO BE SURRENDED TO ZIMBABWE.

Professor Tichaona Mupasiri said: “As the Director of Public Policy at FOSMM, I had never
looked at this warrant to truly appreciate the complicity of Interpol and South African laws
enforcement officers in giving Zimbabwe title and jurisdiction to prosecute a South African
citizen in Zimbabwe for crimes allegedly committed outside its border. It is mind boggling to
learn that this fatally defective warrant was recognized and enforced in South Africa.”

Warrant of arrest issued in terms of Section 5(1)(b) of the Extradition Act 67 of 1962

It is common cause that Mr. Mawere was arrested in South Africa based on an affidavit in
support of the request by the Zimbabwean authorities to extradite him. The affidavit is
below:

It is clear from the above that the deponent accepts that Mr. Mawere was wanted in
Zimbabwe for fraud allegedly committed in South Africa. It is not in dispute that the
Zimbabwean Exchange Control Act applies to facts and circumstances that relate to the
affairs of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

On 22 May, 2004, which was a Sunday, Patrick Chinamasa, who was the Minister of Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs at the time is alleged to have caused the letter below to be
written and signed by the then Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Joseph Musakwa.

It is believed that Mr. Musakwa was rewarded the following year when Chinamasa
recommended him for appointment as a judge.

On 3 June 2015, he was promoted to be in the Supreme Court of Appeal as a judge. Mr. Musakwa in his letter to the SA Director of Prosecutions knowingly and intentionally
falsely represented that Mr. Mawere was resident at #46 Lawley Avenue, Lincoln Green,
Belvedere for the purpose of inducing South African law enforcement officer to process a
fatally defective and criminal warrant based on facts that he knew did not exist.

It was true and fact that the alleged crime occurred in SA yet here Musakwa acted criminally
by inserting that the Zimbabwean address was the pace Mawere used when in Zimbabwe
when he knew this was false and fraudulent.

This misrepresentation by Musakwa went unnoticed by the SA and Interpol authorities
because it was couched in a manner that represented Mawere as a Zimbabwean resident
who was subject to the Exchange Controls of Zimbabwe.

Mr. Musekwa further falsely misrepresented that Mawere was wanted for prosecution in
Zimbabwe on charges of fraud alternatively the Exchange Control Act when he was fixed
with the knowledge that the allegations related to a court order granted in SA.

The Zimbabwean fraudulent warrant of arrest was issued by the then Provincial Magistrate
Judith Tsamba on 17 May 2004 in Harare.

Who is Judith Tsamba and what became of her? She later became the Company Secretary
for ZESA but it is significant that two months before she did her hatchet job in relation to
Mawere, this is what happened:

On Sunday, 22 May 2021, Interpol was roped into the abuse of public power and the letter
below was written to by Interpol Zimbabwe to Interpol South Africa requesting that Mr.
Mawere
be arrested in South Africa to answer to allegations of exchange control violations
purportedly committed in South Africa.

What is worth highlighting is that the request was made for the immediate arrest of Mr.
Mawere
and the passport used in this letter was his Zimbabwean passport to create the
impression that he was a resident of Zimbabwe when in truth and fact, he was a nonresident of Zimbabwe making the allegations of exchange control regulations inappropriate
for the facts alleged.

On 29 June 2004, the extradition application was dismissed as set out in this article
https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/sa-court-refuses-to-keep-zim-tycoon-in-jail216105.Mawere’s lawyer, Michael Salomon, of Salomon-Lipshitz, through Advocate Lawrence Hodes, had argued that the Zimbabwean approach was contrary to South Africa’s principles
of justice.

Hodes said in South Africa it was unconstitutional to arrest for the purposes of investigating.
“You first complete investigations and make out a proper case before arresting,” Hodes had
argued.

By their own admission, the Zimbabwean authorities were not ready to proceed with the
case and it would be unfair to keep Mawere on remand, the magistrate said.

The decision means Mawere gets back his passport and R50 000 bail money. “All charges
against you are dropped, you can go,” the magistrate told him.

It is common cause that after the failure to extradite Mawere, Chinamasa on 9 July 2004,
issued specification order against Mawere in terms of the Prevention of Corruption Act using
the same facts and circumstances of the extradition application alleging that Mawere had
committed offences in SA that were punishable in Zimbabwe.On 13 August 2004, Chinamasa appointed Assistant Commissioner Mangoma to investigate
Mawere.

On 26 August, 2004, SMM and related companies deemed to be under Mawere were
specified.

Set out below is Chinamasa’s version of the facts and circumstances leading to the
extrajudicial divestment of the control and direction of SMM on 6 September 2004.

The control and management of SMM was placed under the control of Afaras Mtausi
Gwaradzimba
by Chinamasa in his capacity as the Minister of Justice.

THE MANIKAI FACTOR IN FORMULATING AND PROSECUTING THE RECONSTRUCTION ACT

On paragraph 5.7 of Chinamasa’s affidavit to confirm the reconstruction order that he had
issued in relation to SMM, he states that the Reconstruction Regulations that were issued in
terms of Statutory Instrument 187 of 2004, there was no provision for any judicial
involvement in relation to the reconstruction of SMM.

Manikai was purportedly appointed by Chinamasa to act on behalf of the government of
Zimbabwe.

The Attorney General’s Office Act provides as follows:

It is true and fact that all the government work pertaining to the prosecution of the
Reconstruction Act in relation to SMM has been exclusively outsourced to Manikai.

It is alleged that the regulations that preceded the Act were not drafted and processed by
the Attorney General’s office.

Manikai played a key role in the creation of the Reconstruction Regulations.

This screenshot gives the public a glimpse of a conspiracy to subvert rules, laws and norms
that play a vital role in underpinning a democratic constitutional order.It provides a concrete narrative that Manikai was not working alone but was part of an
orchestrated team of nameless and faceless citizens with the exception of President
Mnangagwa that he mentions are the trophy of the conspiracy to be delivered to statehouse
by any means necessary.

It helps people connect the rationale and thinking behind the coup and, therefore, it is not
surprising that his narrative speaks to the actual events that preceded the decision to use
public power to destroy anything that stood in their way to enable President Mnangagwa
succeed the late President Mugabe.

The fact that Manikai could openly connect the succession intent of 2004 with the
reconstruction laws sends a chilling message of the threat to democracy he personally poses
and more significantly that absent this important revelation the distortions that has
characterized the SMM matter would go unnoticed.

The fact that the President was part of this naked onslaught on the constitution that he took
an oath to protect and promote leads to one inescapable conclusion of whether he is fit for
purpose.

When he assumed office and knowing the criminal abuse of public power to divest and
deprive of rights and freedoms in relation to SMM, he would have taken steps to distance
himself from the serious fraud on the Zimbabwean people.

The fact that a big spin was at play in relation to the pathway of President Mnangagwa to
the statehouse must worry all citizens who are vested with the duty to protect the rule of
law.

Manikai, a non-state actor was clearly a centra player but could not have committed this
fraud without the knowledge and active involvement of people who were the de facto
drivers of public policy during the Mugabe era.

Manikai continues to be close to the President and this alone shows that President
Mnangagwa sees no evil in the fact that the institution of the Presidency is tainted with
fraud and corruption.

The importance of Manikai’s admissions to public policy makes it impossible to ignore this
expose and it seamlessly provides a link with the genesis of the coup of 2017 against the
ZANU-PF constitution.

The SMM story shows that the people who were central in directing the reconstruction
affairs embarked on a deliberate campaign to undermine the rule of law.

They used corrupt means to divest and deprive the shareholders and directors of the control
and management of the company and this fact alone must worry any democratic and the
narrative of the ZANU-PF ascendancy demonstrates how far Manikai as a lawyer regards
contemptuously the oath he personally took to uphold.

Organizing the reconstruction affair was in itself a criminal act and the participation of
Manikai in persecuting and prosecuting this fraud disqualifies him from practicing law and
asserting any privilege as a lawyer.

Clearly Manikai is fixed with the knowledge of what factors at play in this fraud and by
sharing his narrative he automatically waived any right to privacy and confidentiality.

It is trite that democracy depends on public trust and the integrity of the people privileged
to possess and exercise public power but the facts of the reconstruction and the coup of
2017 shows the audacity of the actors in the drama and confirms that Manikai and his
undisclosed conspirators have absolutely no regard for any democratic and rule of law
norms and values.

Manikai’s narrative demonstrates that the truth was a real victim and he knew that the
foundation of the reconstruction laws was fraudulent and solely intended to fight Mawere
on political grounds.

The disinformation that characterized the reconstruction of SMM was classic and is similar
to the disinformation that was used in relation to the 2017 coup.

The Zimbabwean public was falsely fed the spin that:
a. Mawere had externalized substantial funds from Zimbabwe.
b. Mawere had fled the country because the allegations of fraud against him were
damning.
c. Mawere was a resident of Zimbabwe.
d. The alleged fraud was supported by facts known to exist in Zimbabwe.
e. Because of the alleged externalization, SMM and related companies were forced to seek
government financial assistance hence the construction of state-indebtedness.
f. The use of Presidential Powers was the best remedy to deal with the situation.
g. Manikai and Gwaradzimba were the best people to prosecute the alleged fraud.
h. It was in the interests of justice and public policy for asset forfeiture to be invoked as a
remedy using public power.

This fraud was committed on the people of Zimbabwe and on the institutions of parliament
and the judiciary with Manikai playing a pivotal role in the prosecution.

Behind the curtain of reconstruction was a criminal syndicate that President Mnangagwa
was an integral part of where the future of so many was stolen with impunity.

Manikai through his astonishing admissions has already thrown President Mnangagwa under
the bus.

Manikai has exposed that the ideology of coups had deep roots.

That the support of the judiciary was given in this onslaught and the fact that they have not
been made accountable says a lot about the strength of democracy and the culture of the
rule of law in Zimbabwe.

The reconstruction affair was not the end of the ideology of coups but the beginning of
coups.

It is important to stitch the facts of SMM reconstruction and its actors to the 2017 actors.

The authors of the coup strategy stood to benefit and are clearly benefiting from the fruits
of their criminal conduct.

Manikai is not only close to President Mnangagwa but is a central player in using the law as a
weapon to annihilate democracy and the rule of law.

Manikai gives a insightful portrait of what happened to justify the use of public power in
relation to the affairs of SMM and sticks him in the same den with President Mnangagwa.

The facts of SMM clearly expose the role he has played in using public power to attack the
rule of law using his profession as a weapon.

The right to appoint and remove directors of SMM just like the power of citizens to elect a
President was divested from them using extrajudicial means.

The rule of law compels Manikai to assist in the search for the truth and in asserting the
supremacy of the constitution which places no one above it.

Zimbabweans in general are in the dark and an explanation is needed as to what the
President knew and didn’t know about the events and facts of the reconstruction affair in as
much as the facts of the coup of 2017 that Manikai is defending in an open court.

The rule of law is better protected when transparency is the order of the day.

MANIKAI – THE ARCHITECT AND ENFORCER OF INJUSTICE IN RELATION TO SMM

Manikai’s relationship with SMM needs to be unpacked to test if he suffers from any conflict
of interest.It is true and fact that Manikai, who was working for the firm, Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans
(GGG), acted for Africa Resources Limited (ARL), the company that acquired the entire
shareholding of SMM Holdings Limited (SMMH), the sole parent of SMM.

SMMH is a UK registered company.

At the time SMM was placed under reconstruction Manikai and his firm, Dube Manikai and
Hwacha, had a relationship of attorney to client one.

Manikai in his admissions referred to above, states that a major fallout occurred with
Mawere and this resulted in him taking sides with President Mnangagwa.

What is known is the following:
a. Manikai became Chinamasa’s lawyer in the prosecution of the reconstruction affair.
b. At all material times, Chinamasa was the Minister of Justice and not the Attorney
General.
c. The Attorney General has to date not been involved directly or indirectly in the
prosecution of the reconstruction in relation to SMM.
d. Manikai has exclusively handled all legal matters including using his firm’s address as the
proxy address of the AG.
e. No records exist in the public domain showing the contractual nexus between DMH and
the AG in relation to the SMM affair.
f. Manikai from the onset became the sole legal advisor to the Administrator of SMM,
Gwaradzimba, who was appointed by Chinamasa.
g. No facts exist as to when Manikai was appointed to act for SMM while also acting
purportedly for the government of Zimbabwe.
h. The distinction between the GOZ and Chinamasa in relation to SMM’s affairs never
existed as the facts show that only Chinamasa had sole control of the affairs of SMM.
i. Manikai knew the facts and circumstances of informing the decision to create a law or
regulations whose sole aim was to divest the shareholders and directors of the control
and direction of SMM.
j. The law in question was founded on the existence of a new identity of a company solely
on account of alleged state indebtedness.
k. That a company identified as state indebted could be subjected to attack outside the
provisions of the Companies Act.
l. That the Minister of Justice would unilaterally and arbitrarily be vested with the power
to issue a limiting order without the involvement of the courts.
m. In relation to SMM, there was no provision for the court to be involved in determining
the existence of a debtor to creditor relationship with the state, the quantum of the
alleged indebtedness and the whether the alleged debt was due and payable.
n. Manikai would have known as an officer of court that a law that offends the separation
of powers and equality before the law was incurably defective and as such was no law at
all yet he brazenly proceeded to recognize and enforce it.
o. Manikai has been the permanent feature of this affairs since 2004 confirming his
conviction that this law though it poses so grave a risk to the rule of law, is
constitutional.

MANIKAI IN RELATION TO TAP – ZAMBIA

Manikai has played the role of a lawyer to the Administrator of SMM, a creature of statute,
whose authority to be related to SMM as its representative was derived from the regulations
that preceded an Act of Parliament.In this position, SMM was ostensibly his client in Zimbabwe, and as such as a legal
practitioner, his profession would have limited him to act for the GOZ, a party that had
created a law to alienate SMM’s shareholders and directors without any due process of the
law.

Notwithstanding, Manikai saw no constitutional violation in his conduct and still sees not
conflict at all.

Below is a letter dated 30 January 2006 and copied to Manikai:

It is evident from the subject matter that the author, a creature of Zimbabwean regulations
and laws, that there was no doubt in his mind that he possessed legal and constitutional title
to write the letter.

The subject matter was in relation to the reconstruction of TAP, a Zambian juristic entity,
and the dissolution of the board of a Zambian company.

It is significant that the then Chairman of TAP was the recipient of this bizarre letter.

The Chairman was a director of TAP having been appointed by the shareholders of the
company.

In terms of the Zambian Companies Act, the title and authority to appoint and remove
directors is vested with the company’s shareholders.

Gwaradzimba is a Chartered Accountant and not some corporate pedestrian.

Below is an extract from the letter referred to above:

It can not be noted from the extract above, that Gwaradzimba knew that the only nexus to
TAP was by virtue of the regulations promulgated by President Mugabe and in terms of
international law, the application of such regulations was confined to the territory and
jurisdiction of Zimbabwe yet he brazenly asserted that TAP located outside Zimbabwe was
bound by this law and as such was deemed to under reconstruction and he derived his title
to control and manage TAP.

Astonishingly, he asserts that TAP is an associate of SMM simply based on his interpretation
of Zimbabwean regulations and with no regard to the territorial integrity of Zambia.

He proceeded to nullify the resolutions adopted by the shareholders of TAP to dissolve the
company’s directors and appoint new directors.

Gwaradzimba and Manikai are known as belonging to President Mnangagwa’s inner circle.
Both are professionals with legal and corporate governance knowledge to know better that
the right to appoint and remove directors falls within the ambit of bill of rights that are
entrenched in the constitution.

Notwithstanding, set our below is what Gwaradzimba stated in the letter:

He asserts a right that he does not possess and uses a Zimbabwean law to attack the rule of
law in Zambia. He states that he is required in terms of Zimbabwean regulations to assume
the control and management of SMM.

He then confers on himself what he refers to as plenary powers and authority over TAP, a
Zambian juristic entity.

From 30 January 2006, the board of TAP was hijacked using a Zimbabwean regulation.

Below is an extract of the same letter that shows that Manikai and Mundashi were both
copied this letter and were or must have been familiar with its contents and their legal and
constitutional implications.

It is trite that a lawyer has a responsibility to the constitution and as such it was incumbent
upon Manikai and Mundashi to be alive to the criminality in the construction and legality of
the proposition that a Zimbabwean law or regulation could apply extra-territorially in
relation to the affairs of TAP.

Lawyers are public citizens and as such cannot escape being accountable for the actions
especially if the actions offend the constitution and limitations imposed on all citizens that
are inherent in it.

Clearly in giving life to a scheme that resulted in him personally benefiting as a director of a
company that fell outside the jurisdiction of Zimbabwe, Manikai knew that his conduct was
inimical to the rule of law.

Ordinarily, one would expect lawyers to understand and define their role as constructors of
constitutional meaning but this case exposes the criminality that is now so pervasive in the
legal profession that allowed this travesty of justice to take place and money to be stolen to
the prejudice of TAP.

The constitution compels lawyers to practice professional responsibility that requires
lawyers to be subject to the rule of law and their responsibility to go beyond client
representations.

As a consequence of this fraud, Manikai became a fiduciary of TAP and as such fully
associated himself with the crime perpetrated against TAP.

Experienced Chairman with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Strong entrepreneurship professional skilled in Negotiation, Budgeting, Business Planning, Operations Management, and Analytical Skills.