HARARE – Corruption-accused business partners Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe took the witness stand on Tuesday as they asked a court to refer their case to the Constitutional Court.

Appearing before Justice Pisirayi Kwenda of the Harare High Court, the duo argued that their rights to liberty and legal protection were violated by Michael Reza, the head of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), when he stopped their release on bail.

Under the guidance of their lawyer, Ashiel Mugiya, Mpofu expressed his astonishment upon being charged in connection with a tender to supply goats to the government, when an initial invitation to speak to investigators from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption commission stated that he would be answering questions over alleged corruption in over US$100 million in contracts awarded by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to South African company, Ren-Form CC and its business partner, Wicknell Chivayo.

“I was in China when I started receiving calls and messages from friends and family who informed me that I was being sought by ZACC. The situation was also circulating on social media, where the ZACC chairperson (Reza) commented on leaked audio recordings (of Chivayo). He said they had evidence (about ZEC contracts corruption) and wished to interview myself, Mike Chimombe, and Chivayo,” he explained.

Mpofu said upon their return to Zimbabwe, they attended an appointment at ZACC with their lawyers, anticipating an interview about the ZEC tender.

Instead, they were solely questioned about allegations that they had been given millions of dollars by the lands ministry to buy 86,000 goats and they had only supplied 6,978.

Chimombe supported Mpofu’s testimony, claiming selective prosecution in their case since Chivayo – who was their business partner when they won the initial ZEC contracts worth US$40 million – had not been called in for questioning.

The two asserted that their prosecution was a direct result of the leaked Chivayo audios over the ZEC contracts. They were being punished because a large chunk of the cash had gone to senior government officials who facilitated the corruption. These powerful people, they said, wanted to cover up their corruption and had fashioned the charges against them to shield Chivayo.

“When we had a meeting with Chivayo on the payment modalities, he told us that the money was not going to be shared equally, he said the bulk of the money was supposed to go to his people in government and we were not going to get a fair share,” Mpofu told the court.

Mpofu and Chimombe noted that they had seen Reza present in court prior to their first appearance and remarked that the prosecutor general had agreed to grant them bail.

Despite the fact that the prosecutor general had initially set conditions requiring them to surrender their title deeds, passports, and pay US$1,000 bail each, Reza altered those terms. This resulted in them being denied bail.

The hearing continues.