Mugabe suspends attorney general
Suspended Attorney General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele
He is part of a group of ex-ZANLA cadres who met recently in Harare and agreed to face Mugabe and advise him to step down. Mugabe refused to meet them, instead, ordered his arrest and subsequent suspension.
By editor
ROBERT Mugabe has suspended the country’s attorney-general on trumped up misconduct charges that he met a former banker who is on the police wanted list, it has emerged.
'President (Robert) Mugabe has, with immediate effect, suspended the attorney-general, Mr Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, and set up a three-member tribunal to look into allegations that he abused his office,' the government mouth piece, Herald said.
Citing a statement from the chief secretary to the president and cabinet, the newspaper said the tribunal 'will make its recommendations to President Mugabe on whether or not Mr Gula-Ndebele should remain as the country's attorney-general'.
However, Zim Diaspora can now reveal that Mr Gula-Ndebele was part of ex-ZANLA cadres who secretly met recently in Harare and agreed to face Mugabe and advise him to step down as president. Gula-Ndebele had also refused to prosecute more than 50 MDC activists whom Mugabe had wanted jailed. It is clear that the allegations against Gula-Ndebele is part of punishment by Mugabe.
He was arrested last month after he allegedly met in September with James Mushore, former deputy managing director of National Merchant Bank (NMB).
Mushore had been on the police wanted list since 2004 on charges of siphoning foreign currency from Zimbabwe.
He had just sneaked back into the country from Britain.
Police said Mushore and three colleagues set up a money transfer agency in London in breach of Zimbabwe's strict foreign exchange laws and siphoned funds to offshore accounts.
In May the central bank revoked NMB's foreign exchange licence after staffers moved at least four million US dollars to foreign bank accounts without authorisation from the central bank.
The Zimbabwe Independent has reported Gula-Ndebele, arrested three weeks ago for alleged abuse of office, was reportedly part of former Zanla general staff that met in Harare in March and resolved that it was time President Robert Mugabe left office. Zanla was the military wing of Zanu during the liberation struggle of the 1970s. The arrest of Gula-Ndebele was allegedly part of Mugabe’s succession battle that signalled the beginning of a crackdown against a camp in Zanu PF that wanted Vice-President Joice Mujuru to succeed the octogenarian. Impeccable sources said the onslaught on the faction led by retired army general Solomon Mujuru was aimed at whipping the camp members into supporting Mugabe ahead of the ruling party’s five-day special congress in December. Gula-Ndebele is linked to the Mujuru faction.
The AG was arrested on allegations that he met fugitive former NMBZ deputy director James Mushore and assured him he would not be arrested for alleged foreign currency externalisation.
But the sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that the alleged participation of Gula-Ndebele in the former Zanla general staff meeting in March, his failure to prosecute over 50 MDC activists accused of petrol bombings and constant clashes with Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, had irked Mugabe. 'There were two meetings of the former Zanla general staff in Harare at the beginning of the year where it was resolved that they approach Mugabe and tell him to quit,' one of the sources said. 'The meetings were attended by Mujuru, retired general Vitalis Zvinavashe and Gula-Ndebele, among others.' The sources said Gula-Ndebele and an influential group of former Zanla soldiers, who backed Mugabe to seize control of Zanu during a turbulent period of the liberation struggle in Mozambique in mid-1970s, had reportedly lured former Mugabe personal assistant in Mozambique, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to see if they could confront the president and tell him to retire. It is understood Mnangagwa refused to be part of the sensitive mission.
The sources said Mugabe refused to meet the group and has since that time been looking for an opportune moment for a counter-attack. It is said as a result, a ruthless campaign is now underway to wipe out the Mujuru faction.
During an interview to mark his 83rd birthday in February, Mugabe for the first time uncharacteristically attacked the Mujuru faction, accusing it of trying to oust him.
He, however, said the group had lost the plot. Since then Mugabe is said to have been fighting back all the way, especially after the Mujuru faction frustrated his efforts to secure endorsement during a crucial Zanu PF central committee meeting on March 30.
The Mujuru camp, riding on the crest of a wave of unprecedented success against Mugabe at the party’s Goromonzi conference in December last year where it blocked the octogenarian’s 2010 plan, thwarted the president’s bid for endorsement. This forced party spokesmen to lie to cover up the embarrassing failure. Mugabe was not endorsed to be the Zanu PF candidate at the meeting. He was only endorsed last month.
The Mujuru faction was defeated during the politburo and central committee meetings last month where Mugabe emerged on top of the situation. Mugabe was all but endorsed as candidate at the meetings where the Mujuru camp not only failed to block him but also ended up tacitly supporting him. Prior to that on September 5, Mujuru had climbed down at a politburo meeting where he told Mugabe that there were people lying to him saying he wanted to oust the Zanu PF first secretary. Senior Zanu PF officials said it was the first clearest indication they got that Mujuru and his faction were backtracking on their mission to confront Mugabe head-on over the contentious party leadership.
Meanwhile, more than 35 prosecutors have quit the attorney general's office in Zimbabwe this year, leaving the Justice Ministry facing a serious staff squeeze, said reports on Tuesday.
The ministry's acting secretary Maxwell Ranga said: 'Since the start of the year, we have lost about 35 prosecutors countrywide. They have resigned.'
Most of them cited conditions of service as the reason for seeking greener pastures. Civil servants had borne the brunt of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown.
Although Mugabe’s government had implemented pay hikes with money specially printed for the purpose, critics said salaries just hadn't been able to keep up with raging inflation.
The authorities stopped issuing inflation figures three months ago.