Supa Mandiwanzira is not yet off the hook. Since he got off the ICT Ministry’s helm last year, the former ICT Minister has been in court several times.
Barely 6 months after leaving the office, Supa was charged with two crimes in November last year. The first charge, which he has since been acquitted for, was for breaching procurement regulations through awarding a $280 million contract to a a South Africa company.
The second charge, which he is still facing and about to stand a trial for, is for violating corporate governance principles by appointing his personal assistant to the POTRAZ board. It is this charge that he will be trialed for next month on July 16.
What the story?
Supa Mandiwanzira is said to have appointed Tawanda Chinembiri to the POTRAZ board which was against the law. The State is saying Supa violated governance principles because Tawanda Chinembiri was not a government employee so he didn’t qualify to be on the POTRAZ board. You have to be a government employee to sit on the POTRAZ board (and other boards. Actually the State is saying that Tawanda Chinembiri was Supa Mandiwanzira’s Personal Assistant who was not on government’s payroll but on the Former Finance Minister’s payroll- making the Personal Assistant a private sector employee and not a public servant.
What Supa is saying
As you’d expect Supa denies this and goes on to affirm that Tawanda Chinembiri was a government employee by the time he was appointed to sit on the POTRAZ board.
According to a report by Newsday, Supa Mandiwanzira is saying that all the criminal charges that were filed against him were as result of political persecution otherwise he’s behavior when he was in office was as clean as a whistle.
