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Mashudu Netsianda Bulawayo Bureau
ZANU-PF secretary for administration Cde Obert Mpofu yesterday said Chief Felix Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni is in the habit of making false allegations against Government and the ruling party due to ignorance since he spent many years outside the country.

Testifying before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Gladmore Mushove in a matter in which Chief Ndiweni and his 13 subjects are accused of destroying a villager’s property, Cde Mpofu said Chief Ndiweni was out of touch with reality.

The former Home Affairs and Culture Minister came to testify after Chief Ndiweni alleged that Cde Mpofu was behind his arrest and had influenced the complainant in their matter, Mr Fetti Mbele, to file criminal charges.

“The first accused person (Chief Ndiweni) has been raising false allegations against Zanu-PF and the Government. His problem is that he has been out of the country for a long time hence he has lost touch with the goings on in the country,” Cde Mpofu said.

He said he did not know the complainant in the matter, saying when the incident happened he was in Harare.
“I was actually in Harare when the incident happened and in addition to that I don’t even know Mr Mbele (the complainant) and even if the court asks me to identify him, I won’t be able to positively identify him,” Cde Mpofu said.
He also denied having held a meeting with Chief Ndiweni whom he described as a “political foe”.

“I have never had any meeting with the first accused person. Other than that we are not related in any way except that he is a political foe who could issue statement after statement about me. He makes a lot of anti-Government and Zanu-PF statements and that is what I know,” Cde Mpofu said.

He also denied allegations that he flexed his political muscle by using his position as Home Affairs Minister to influence police at Mbembesi Police Station to arrest the complainants.

“I have never spoken to any police officer at Mbembesi Police Station in the last five years. It is through the Ntabazinduna leadership that I got to know of the matter after they had notified me as their MP. I then referred them to women lawyers associations since the case involved a woman,” Cde Mpofu said.

Chief Ndiweni told the court that the charges they were facing stemmed from Cde Mpofu’s efforts to fix him after he filed criminal charges against him alleging that he stole his late father, Chief Khayisa’s 200 head of cattle.

He said he reported the theft at Mbembesi Police Station, but Cde Mpofu, who was then Home Affairs and Culture Minister, allegedly facilitated the docket’s disappearance.

Cde Mpofu has since filed a $300 000 lawsuit against Chief Ndiweni over the allegations and the matter is still pending.