Gideon Gono denies fleeing to Egypt

By Gilbert Nyambabvu

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Gideon Gono, has denied fleeing to Egypt to escape an alleged assassination plot, insisting he was in the North African country to attend a business meeting. 

Gono has been the subject of scathing attacks by senior Zanu PF officials with politburo member Jonathan Moyo claiming the RBZ chief was behind damaging media leaks alleging corruption in the country’s indigenisation programme.

But on Tuesday Gono rejected reports he had fled the country, insisting he was in Cairo to attend a scheduled business meeting.

“Many in my circle of operation know that every quarter I attend a board meeting of the African Export Import Bank headquartered in Cairo and my current visit to the Egyptian capital for that purpose this quarter is/was no exception,” he said in a statement.

“These business meetings and trips are planned well in advance and my principals and family (back) home are in the know about my whereabouts and why. Any other story suggesting otherwise is the usual fiction that is sometimes written about me.”

Gono has publicly clashed with Empowerment Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, over forcing banks to comply with the indigenisation programme which compels foreign companies to transfer majority control and ownership of their Zimbabwe operations to locals.

The RBZ chief told NewZimbabwe.com: “I have stood firm on indigenisation since October 2007, saying (we should not use a) one-size-fits-all strategy and treat banks (as if) they were manufacturing or mining firms – a position supported by President (Robert Mugabe) who urged flexibility when he spoke on his birthday. Since then I have come under siege.”

And tensions have lately escalated over allegations of corruption in the US$800 million compliance deal for platinum producer Zimplats, a subsidiary of South Africa-based Impala Platinum.

Moyo has accused Gono of leaking documents relating to the transaction to the media and trying to get the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the deal.

“In mid-February and against detailed, substantive and friendly advice given to him in good faith … Gono leaked to the Daily News confidential and sensitive documents about pending negotiations between the Government and Zimplats,” Moyo wrote in a government-owned weekly on Sunday.

“As if this was not bad enough, Gono then misinterpreted and distorted the content of those otherwise very straightforward documents … and gave the impression that a huge scam, allegedly the biggest since independence, was underway to the detriment of our sovereignty.”

Moyo added: “Gono thinks he is an untouchable because he tried ‘to serve this country’ (during the years of hyperinflation)? Does he really believe that?”

But the RBZ chief says he is being vilified for merely raising “concerns about the appropriateness of the indigenisation deals (the Empowerment Ministry) has been crafting”.

Meanwhile, Gono also dismissed as “grand misinformation” reports implicating him in the alleged disappearance of some 400 ounces of gold coins at the central bank.

“I normally do not lose sleep over or respond to matters of this nature especially because the false accusation was first sensationally raised by my former advisor, Munyaradzi Kereke, last year and I have sued him for defamation of character,” he said.

“This the matter is still sub-judice (but) I will consult my principals and legal counsel if I could be allowed to deal with, and respond to (the allegations) as an exception given that the legal wheels to this case are yet to turn.

“Previous governors, before and after independence, indeed left this heritage of gold coins (some dating back to 1885) intact in the central bank and I shall do the same when my time is up.

“(Still) I owe … Zimbabweans an answer despite my usual stance not to respond to every provocation from personalities that have dark and troubled childhoods and histories of inconsistency.” New Zimbabwe.com