Auxilia Mnangagwa, son Collins implicated in Rushwaya gold smuggling
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wife Auxilia and son Collins have been cited as the masterminds behind the attempt to smuggle more than 6kg to Dubai by suspended Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya.
According to an internal police memo seen by the independent ZimLive website, after Rushwaya’s arrest at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport with gold in her handbag, Gift Karanda (44) tried to intercede on her behalf alleging that the precious mineral belonged to the First Family.
Karanda said Rushwaya was carrying gold that “belonged to the First Lady and one Collins, a son to the First Family who was supposed to have brought it but due to other commitments had requested Rushwaya to transport it on his behalf.”
Auxilia Mnangagwa and her twin son Collins are reportedly denying any links to the gold.
This is not the first time Auxilia and Collins are implicated in corruption. Recently, they allegedly fronted a shadowy company, Drax International represented by Delish Nguwaya to dribble past the government to get a US$60 million tender to supply Covid-19 materials without requisite paperwork.
The case has since led to the dismissal of former Health Minister Obadiah Moyo after the media had exerted a lot of pressure on Mnangagwa’s under-fire administration to end corruption.
On Tuesday, the matter of Rushwaya made it into the British House of Lords where it was used as an example of corruption under Mnangagwa’s administration.
Zanu PF Chief Whip Pupurai Togarepi dismissed allegations made in the House of Lords that Rushwaya was related to Mnangagwa.
“Why is Lord Peter Hain lying, who lied to him that Henrietta Rushwaya is President Mnangagwa’s niece? Is there anything honourable in parroting and reproducing falsehoods from social media platforms in the so-called House of Lords, perhaps House of Lies?
“In his ignorance, Hain insinuates that what Henrietta Rushwaya did had the blessings of the President. What a load of rubbish from a supposed Lord,” Togarepi saifm
On Thursday, the police confirmed the arrest of six people, including Karanda, who allegedly misrepresented that he was a Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative.
Police also confirmed the arrests of Mnangagwa’s security aide Stephen Chenjerai Tserayi, 45, CIO operative Raphios Mufandauya, 37, and 52-year-old Pakistan businessman Ali Mohamad who owns a vehicle import company, Japan 786.
When she was arrested, Rushwaya told investigators that the gold worth US$333,000 belonged to Mohamad, who had given her instructions to take it to Dubai where she was to deliver it to an unnamed individual.
