Gono hires Biti to fight Kereke claims in court
By Staff Reporter
In politics there are no permanent enemies or friends, only permanent interests.
Nothing highlights this more than former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono hiring his former boss and sworn political enemy, MDC-T Secretary Tendai Biti, to be his lawyer. Biti was the finance minister in the last government.
Gono is reported to have hired Biti on the 16th of December to fight allegations by former advisor Dr Munyaradzi Kereke who has approached the Constitutional Court demanding that his former boss be investigated for stealing over US$38 million through corrupt deals while he was still in charge of the central bank.
Already the state media is being used to fight Gono with claims being peddled that his cozy relations with Biti are creating unease within Zanu PF following Gono’s nomination by the party’s Manicaland Province to fill the vacant Buhera Senate seat following the death of Kumbirai Kangai on August 24.
The fractured relationship between Gono and Biti is well documented.
At the inception of the coalition government in 2009, Biti and his MDC-T party called for the sacking of Gono and blamed his printing of money to fund quasi-fiscal activities for collapsing the Zimbabwean economy and propping up the regime.
Zanu PF Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa, seen as the political godfather in the Manicaland Province meanwhile has already come out in support of Gono.
“It is his right to look for the best lawyer. If he thinks Biti is the one he wants to pick, it is up to him. Biti practices in Zimbabwe. He practices in Zimbabwean courts and not in South Africa or England. It is up to Gono to choose who he wants to defend him,” Mutasa said.
Only last month Biti told a radio station, “Gono has the nation at heart although some people wanted to use him and they indeed used him and just dumped him. We first had challenges, but eventually we had a very good working relationship. He had the nation at heart.”
But many see the feud between Gono and Kereke as simply a power play between the Emmerson Mnangagwa and Joice Mujuru factions within Zanu PF. Kereke is supported by Mnangagwa while Gono has the backing of the Mujuru faction via Didymus Mutasa.
