Vela hunts Mliswa over Nssa quarrel

 President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office has received a counter dossier from sacked National Social Security Authority (Nssa) chairperson Robin Vela, denying alleged corruption at the State pensions body under his tenure.

Instead, the dossier turns its guns on independent Norton Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa, accusing him of having  allegedly demanded a bribe from Vela and also attempting to blackmail him.

This comes after Mliswa recently addressed his own damning dossier on Nssa to Mnangagwa, which was copied to vice presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, as well as Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Labour and Social Welfare minister Petronella Kagonye, Home Affairs minister Obert Mpofu, Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, Prosecutor-General Ray Goba and Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga.

Mliswa further copied his dossier to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc), Central Intelligence Organisation boss Isaac Moyo and other top government executives, detailing allegations of corruption and embezzlement — including claims that the pay-as-you-go pension scheme had allegedly bankrolled a local commercial bank irregularly.

The garrulous legislator also claimed that the graft allegedly perpetrated by Vela had prejudiced the government of millions of dollars.

However, Vela told Mnangagwa in his dossier dated May 11 that Mliswa had little understanding of the functioning of corporate governance procedures, which he says were well entrenched at Nssa.

“The chairperson has no corporate capacity to enter into contracts on behalf of the authority, or indeed to facilitate the movement of funds … the chairman is not a signatory to the Nssa bank account and therefore cannot disburse any payments,” he said, also requesting for a forensic audit into the affairs of Nssa “to put to bed the various misconceptions being put out”.

Vela also attempted to re-butt one by one all the 19 corruption allegations have been levelled against by Mliswa in his letter to the president.

This was after Mliswa had alleged that Nssa — which has 70 percent of its investments in the equities market, including interests in 53 of the 60 companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange — had been “captured by a mafia-like cabal”, going on to name a number of government ministers, businessmen and other players that he said were involved in the alleged Nssa rot.

But Vela hit back claiming that Mliswa had, in his letter to Mnangagwa, not disclosed that he had attempted to extort him.

“Only January 16, 2018, Mliswa visited Vela’s private offices in Colney Valley and, inter alia, sought financial support from Vela personally or Nssa for his activities as a politician. Vela rebuffed this,” Vela told Mnangagwa without disclosing how much Mliswa had wanted to get.

“Mliswa is an extortionist and his obsession with Vela since January 16, 2018 to date is there for anyone objective to see … The obsessive and frequent tweets (on Nssa by Mliswa) will form part of a future action as Vela is determined no other is subjected to Mliswa’s unwarranted attacks,” Vela’s letter added.

Attempts by the Daily News to speak to Mliswa yesterday were unsuccessful as he said he was in church.

Vela was sacked in April this year by new Labour minister Kagonye, after she insinuated that he was not a resident of Zimbabwe.

In his letter to Mnangagwa, Vela said “dual nationality is legal in Zimbabwe”, adding that the Nssa Act did not also state that a member must be Zimbabwean.

“That said, Vela does hold a Zimbabwean passport,” his dossier said, arguing further that as such the grounds for his dismissal were baseless. Daily news