DOCUMENTS furnished by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to Parliament show that Zanu-PF linked businessman Tafadzwa Musarara actually received US$28.2 million of public funds allegedly for purchasing and importing wheat/grain which was never delivered.
This was revealed yesterday by Gokwe-Nembudziya legislator Honourable Justice Mayor Wadyajena, who chairs the Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement.
Wadyajena said his committee has resolved to proceed with its report, on the matter of Drotsky Private limited owned by Musarara, allegedly purchasing and importing wheat/grain with funds from RBZ to Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe.
Wadyajena said the committee had received all necessary documents from the Reserve bank governor. This came after the chair and Musarara failed to reach an agreement on Musarara’s legal practitioners speaking on his behalf.
“The council to Parliament stands with what I had interpreted that you are the only one allowed to speak and I understand that you had a meeting whereby you indicated that you are following your court application so now that the matter is before the courts, we have to excuse you,” said Wadyajena.
“ I understand that there is an urgent chamber application that you have done today, on that note I must highlight to you that as a Committee we are proceeding with our report.
“We got all the documents we needed from the Reserve Bank Governor who furnished the committee with the documentation that you got US$28.2 million instead of US$26 million.
“The (RBZ) Governor also gave us documents that on the issue of who made the application, and he assured us that it was Drotsky but it came out that it’s the Grain Millers which applied and Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ), yet Drotsky got the money… So we are proceeding with our case while you proceed with your court case.”
Musarara who is also the chairperson for the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) said he was puzzled by how the committee had failed to recognise the courts by proceeding with the report.
“We have been brought before this Parliamentary Committee and received unfair treatment in terms of the conduct of the chairperson, we have written letters to the clerk of Parliament seeking the chairperson of the committee to recuse himself on several grounds one of them is that the investigation when the inquiry was looking at the transport issues, our transport contracts and we all know that the chairperson is a renowned owner of a transport company, we felt that he was conflicted,” he said.
“The other one was how he presided over the matter the letters on invite were simply on wheat and you may have witnessed that there were a lot of conflated matters regarding maize, the issues of members and other people who came into the inquiry which we had not been warned about.
“On the 26th of February, Parliament made a routine visit to all the wheat millers that had received wheat to see their milling plants, when they arrived at my plant, he refused to enter. Again, that points to acrimony, malice, we feel that this inquiry has got a set agenda other than what parliament needs to know.
“Lastly, we wonder why they would not want to wait for a court outcome so that we can come back, he has mentioned that he is proceeding with the report and he does not recognise the courts, why the urgency, this case has taken 18 months and the application because of its nature will only take seven to ten days.”
Addressing members of the media after the committee meeting, the chair, Wadyajena said there was no vendetta between himself and Musarara as he had only met him through the committee. – Zimbabwe Voice
