Zambia’s Complicity in the Mnangagwa Corruption Allegation exposed by his Lawyer

British Lady Kate Hoey in response to a letter from Mutumwa Mawere, the ultimate shareholder of TAP Building Products Limited (TAP), a company that is duly incorporated and operating in terms of the laws of Zambia, a fellow SADC member state, that whose control and management was divested and deprived of its shareholder and directors outside the four corners of the rule of law said: “That sounds very serious. I would be very interested in knowing more and if I can help get it into the public domain if helpful for democracy in Zimbabwe.”

It is fact that Gwaradzimba and Manikai who have been exclusively driving the prosecution of the reconstruction of SMM used the reconstruction laws of Zimbabwe as a vehicle for committing fraud in Zambia and got away with it.

This fraud netted Gwaradzimba and Manikai an amount of $700,000 excluding the costs of litigation from TAP.

Manikai, a close confidant and relative of President Mnangagwa, became a director of TAP based on a fraud that was exposed by the Supreme Court of Zambia, albeit, after the theft of the funds from the company.

They gave the Zimbabwe law that offends rule of law principles extra-territorial application with the tolerance of a Zambian judge by the name Kajimanga using Mundashi, a prominent Zambian lawyer, to process this serious onslaught against the territorial integrity of Zambia.

“The fact that Manikai, an officer of the court, could knowingly and intentionally participate in this attack on Zambia for personal benefit is chilling. What is astonishing is that he got away with it,” said Professor Tichaona, Director of Public Policy of FOSMM, a trust whose mission includes the promotion and protection of the rule of law using SMM’s facts and circumstances as a reference.

A debate has been raging in the Justice Under Rule of Law (JULOL) group that is powered by FOSMM as to whether Manikai who is defending President Mnangagwa in the landmark case pending before the High Court of Zimbabwe, is fit for purpose.

Mr. Mawere said: “The fact that Manikai perpetrated this crime in the jurisdiction of Zambia represents an unprecedented attack on a foreign state.

It is trite that international law is based on the comity of nation-states and on the principle that a law that offends public policy like the Reconstruction of State Indebted Insolvent Companies Act should not exist in any democratic constitutional order as law.

In this bizarre matter, Manikai obviously oblivious of his constitutional and professional obligations used this draconian Zimbabwean law and enforced it in Zambia notwithstanding the fact that any law that is inconsistent with constitutionalism is a law that deserves no recognition and enforcement.

It is astonishing that Manikai, a central player in the Mnangagwa administration would be the vehicle for exporting to Zambia this travesty of justice yet remains unaccountable.

The interest shown by Lady Hoey in the matter has to be looked at in a broader context of the role that Zambia, a strategic neighbor, can play in bringing people like Manikai to book.”