HARARE – Purged independent presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere says his family home in Harare was Friday visited by officers from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) amid signs the Emmerson Mnangagwa led regime was not relenting in its bid to press corruption allegations against the former Zanu PF political commissar.
Posting on his Twitter handle Friday, the exiled politician, banned Friday by the Supreme Court from contesting the Zimbabwe incumbent in elections due 23 August, claimed renewed persecution for daring to challenge Mnangagwa.
“Desperation on steroids! Why is the regime sending ZACC to my family home. What valuation are you carrying out? @edmnangagwa. Is it criminal to contest you?” Kasukuwere said.
Kasukuwere’s spokesperson Jacqueline Sande confirmed ZACC officers indeed visited his home to “carry out some investigations over how he bought his house”.
She described the visit as an act of victimisation against the politician.
“The visit by ZACC is in perpetuation of the victimisation and persecution of President Saviour Kasukuwere which followed his nomination as presidential candidate,” Sande said.
“We however wish to remind the authorities that it is not a crime to contest for presidency.
“If indeed such investigations were genuine, they should have been done earlier. The timing alone is enough proof that the intention is sinister.”
Asked to shed light on the object of their visit to Kasukuwere’s home, ZACC spokesperson Thandiwe Mlobane asked this reporter to send questions via WhatsApp text saying she was driving from “out of town”.
“Right now, I am out of town. I am driving to Harare. Please put your questions on WhatsApp so that by the time I get to Harare, I would also have been briefed on the matter,” Mlobane said.
A follow-up attempt later in the evening drew blanks as she said she was not yet in Harare.
Kasukuwere, once an ally to the Zimbabwe incumbent when the two served in former President Robert Mugabe’s government, was hounded into exile 2017 when the military staged a coup against the late leader.
Military spokespersons claimed at the time the coup was triggered by “criminals” who were allies to Mugabe from whom they sought protection.
Soon after being installed by the military, Mnangagwa would open corruption charges against Kasukuwere and some former party politicians who once fronted a rival Zanu PF faction commonly referred to as G40.
The politician denies acts of corruption and claims his prosecution was an attempt by the incumbent to settle grudges dating back to party’s succession fights that ensued when it became apparent Mugabe was in the twilight of his long rule.
