HARARE – Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti has called for a forensic investigation into the alleged looting of billions of dollars through Sakunda Holdings, linking the company to deep-seated corruption within Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF.
His remarks come just days after Vice President Constantino Chiwenga reportedly stunned a politburo meeting with claims that the party secretly holds a stake in the fuel and energy giant, the company which is widely known to be owned by controversial tenderpreneur and President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s close ally Kudakwashe Tagwirei.
Biti, a senior opposition figure who has been vocal about how Sakunda has been looting state resources through agriculture contracts during his time in Parliament, accused Zanu-PF of abandoning its liberation legacy, describing the party as “commodified” and controlled by “gangsters, pretenders and commodity brokers” driven by personal enrichment.
“It is absolutely regrettable and sad that the Liberation Movement, the party of Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo, Leopold Takawira and Edgar Two Boy Tekere has been commodified and reduced to a rug tag aberration,” Biti stated.
“It is run by gangsters, pretenders and commodity brokers with an insatiable quest of self aggrandizement and self enrichment.
“They offer no pretense to decency or any value system.
“They lack any social base and loot with such egregious edacity knowing that there is no tomorrow.”
He singled out Sakunda for scrutiny, alleging that at least US$3.2 billion was siphoned through the company in collusion with state actors.
“The alleged US$3.2 billion looted by Sakunda must be investigated. The Treasury Bills and every underlying transaction that gave progeny to this loot must be examined,” Biti said in a statement on September 24, adding that the revelations warranted a judicial commission of inquiry and urgent parliamentary oversight.
His comments are linked to dramatic disclosures reportedly made during last week’s Zanu-PF politburo meeting, the last before the party’s annual conference, where Chiwenga is said to have tabled a dossier revealing that the ruling party owns a 45 percent stake in Sakunda.
According to insiders, the shareholding was established during Robert Mugabe’s presidency and was held in trust by senior party figures including Mnangagwa, Vice President Kembo Mohadi, and party legal secretary Patrick Chinamasa.
Instead of yielding dividends for the party, Chiwenga alleged, Tagwirei diverted billions to fund parallel patronage networks within Zanu PF, channeling resources through prominent benefactors such as Wicknell Chivayo and gold dealer Scott Sakupwanya.
The revelations have raised fresh questions about the opaque relationship between Sakunda, the state, and the ruling elite. For Biti, the developments vindicates long-held opposition claims that Zimbabwe’s economy has been captured by cartels closely linked to the government.
“This conflation between the Ministry of Finance and Sakunda must be investigated. The revelations and allegations made require anger, agency and urgency from the citizen,” Biti said.
Tagwirei is central in the bitter rivalry and succession dispute currently unfolding in the ruling party. Mnangagwa whose last term in office is supposed to end in 2028 is reportedly positioning Tagwirei to be his successor.
Chiwenga who has been a frontrunner in the succession race is reportedly being sidelined through several means including reshuffling of key party organs like the Politburo. A cabinet reshuffle that will see the former army general’s allies being sidelined is also looming.
