It seems the fake news train is in full speed once again. Rumours started circulating claiming that the Former Minister of ICT and Cyber Security Hon Supa Mandiwanzira had been arrested.
You may have come across this tweet on your timelines:
Supa Mandiwanzira arrested while trying to border jump into Zambia, I drink another Supa Chibuku today after that one when the Chap was not appointed into Cabinet.
— W. Zambezi Snr (@williamzambezi) September 15, 2018
We contacted Mr Mandiwanzira about this issue and he made it clear this was not true. “It’s not true. Fake news”, was the response he gave when asked about the incident circulating on social media.
Why would some believe this?
Supa Vs Kangai
Well, Mr Mandiwanzira has been accused of shady dealings and two former NetOne CEOs have claimed that former Minister interfered with the running of the state-owned network. Mr Reward Kangai who was dismissed in 2017 went a step further and accused Mandiwanzira of creating a cartel at NetOne.
The reasoning behind Kangai’s claims was simple. Supa Mandiwanzira hired three high ranking officials from Metbank and gave them positions at NetOne and POTRAZ respectively. Ozias Bvute the CEO of Metbank, was appointed as the Chairman of POTRAZ at a time when POTRAZ owed Metbank $6.5 million and Reward Kangai argued there was a clear conflict of interest here. And these kinds of incidents sum up why the public strongly feels that Hon Mandiwanzira is corrupt. This corruption has not been proven in any court of law however so Supa is a free man until otherwise.
Supa Vs Muchenje
Lazarus Muchenje who was CEO of NetOne for less than half a year has taken NetOne, some board members and Supa Mandiwanzira to court. The charge against Mandiwanzira is that he has interfered in the running of NetOne and considering that Mandiwanzira is already unpopular many people were rejoicing and are hoping that this may lead to some form of punishment.
Though Mandiwanzira is a polarizing figure the reports circulating that he has been arrested are inaccurate (at the time of writing).
