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Political Editor

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigations committee chairman, Mr Goodson Nguni, has dared those who accuse him of being a “convicted fraudster” to provide evidence of where and when he was convicted of any crime.Mr Nguni says his work at ZACC has led people to make unfounded allegations to besmirch his character and added that he was not pursuing a political agenda.

In an interview with The Herald in a week that has been dominated by news of the alleged fraud committed by Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, his deputy Dr Godfrey Gandawa and their cronies, Mr Nguni also said he had nothing personal against Prof Moyo and the present matter, involving around $400 000, stemmed from a whistle-blower.

The Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, who is also a zanu-pf Politburo member, has claimed political victimisation.

But Mr Nguni said: “First of all, can I make it very clear that there is no personal battle between me and Minister Moyo, there is no grudge. Before I became a member of the commission I was also a member of zanu-pf. Of course now I am not a member anymore because the constitution does not allow me.

“What happens here is that there is a direct attempt by people that have been caught on the wrong side of the law to politicise this matter as a strategy to get away from facing justice.”

He said he could not solely pursue a personal agenda.

“The truth of the matter is that no commissioner has the authority to order an investigation to begin. No commissioner has the authority to stop an investigation. No commissioner has the individual authority to determine what should happen in the commission. In terms of the Constitution and the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, all decisions taken by the commission must be by majority decision taken at a vote for it to become a resolution.

“So, this is how we work, if someone brings a story making allegations of corruption, the secretary of the commission takes the matter to the full commission meeting and tells us that we have received an allegation of this nature. The commission sees if there is a merit in the case, then they mandate the investigations subcommittee to investigate the matter.

“The investigations subcommittee has got a lot of investigators employed by ZACC, the managers will then decide on who are the investigators to work on the case. What happens is that when they finish their investigation, the investigation subcommittee is given the report from the investigations and they must report to the main committee (and) then, a decision is proposed, seconded and taken about taking a way forward.

“I as chairman of the investigations committee do not have the individual authority to order an investigation. In this case of Jonathan Moyo, I want to state very clearly that a whistle-blower who took part in the fraud approached the commission and told the commission that, ‘I may have committed an offence and I want to report myself’. Then he explained to us the fraud, that is how we got to know the story. It is not personal at all.” Mr Nguni dismissed claims that he was a convicted fraudster.

“I have never been arrested by the police anywhere in the world, not in South Africa, not in Zimbabwe.

He threatened to sue those peddling the “lie” warning that next week, “summons are flying and they will be fast and furious.”