‘Mnangagwa abrogates duties, illegally subcontracts his wife’

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is being accused of “abrogating his duties” by allegedly “subcontracting” his wife Auxillia following her mysterious trip alongside her twin sons, Collins and Sean, to Belarus where they met President Alexander Lukashenko.

The First Lady and her sons, Collin and Sean last week reportedly chartered the Gulfstream G550 private plane that costs around US$10,900 per hour in hiring charges to Minsk, the Belarusian capital on a government business.

After her meeting with Lukashenko, she told the Belarusian media that they discussed “everything”.

“We had a wonderful meeting with Mr President. There were no closed topics between us. I felt absolutely at home,” she said.

“We discussed absolutely everything. I can see now that our co-operation will move forward.

“He [the Belarusian president] has one important thing that we have, too. He is able and willing to work hard.”

There are concerns from critics, however, that Auxillia overstepped her role by venturing into government business when she is not an elected official.

Some are also arguing that Mnangagwa’s family could be pursuing private family business using state resources.

The relationship between Lukashenko and Mnangagwa has been the source of great scandal.

Local Government Minister July Moyo, appointed by Mnangagwa, is accused of procuring fire tenders from Belarus under corrupt circumstances and without the consent of local councils around the country.

Moyo diverted more than US$55 million of devolution funds to buying fire trucks from Belarus for 89 councils allegedly at an inflated cost in more “rampant corruption”.

“The funds to procure the equipment will be deducted from the 2022 Devolution allocations and will be done over a period of twelve months starting March 2022. the cost of each fire tender is USD464,296,” Moyo told councils.

“It is therefore advisable for local authorities to reprioritise the Devolution funds to accommodate the cost of the fire tenders.”

Mnangagwa’s Belarusian crony Alexander Zingman, who runs Aftrade DMCC was awarded the multimillion dollar deal without going to tender.

In 2021, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of investigative journalists, unveiled links between Lukashenko’s family and a gold mining venture in Zimbabwe.

In an interview with Nehanda Radio, political activist and commentator Pride Mkono slammed Mnangagwa for behaving like Zimbabwe is his ‘family’s backyard’.

He also stated that a serious Parliament would have started pushing for impeachment of the President following the illegal involvement of his wife in government projects.

“Mnangagwa’s believes that they do not only own this country but that it is their backyard where they can cut deals with foreigners when his family and wife are not elected officials who should represent and act on behalf of the government.

“Obviously what they are involved in is shady and is likely to contract debt on behalf of the country which debt must be paid by citizens. It is deplorable, unacceptable and it calls for an inquiry into the Constitutional conduct of the President whether it is worth for him to continue to act as a President of Zimbabwe because he has clearly abrogated his duties and subcontracted to his wife.

“If our Parliament was alive, it should be at this moment moving a motion of impeachment on the President because that is the only solution which is there,” Mkono said.