Zanu (PF) activist Acie Lumumba was yesterday accused of extorting more than $17,000 from the Zimbabwe Youth Council after his company, Cornerstone Consulting was awarded a tender without the full knowledge of the council’s board.
By Lovejoy Mutongwiza
Speaking during a ZiFm current affairs programme, The Platform, Zimbabwe Youth Council board member, Tatenda Mavetera accused Lumumba of acquiring a tender, supplying services and taking money from the council without anyone’s knowledge.
“He (Lumumba) went on to get some money, because he has a company called Cornerstone, he then went on to allocate himself the tender in which he would supply the services. After that he went on to get some money without our knowledge. That was a direct conflict of interest as stipulated in the contract which he signed,” she claimed.
Questioned on the reasons why the board couldn’t detect that Lumumba allocated himself the tender, Mavetera claimed they were not aware that he was the owner of the company.
“He took the money that wasn’t meant for him and put it to personal use. This meant that he benefitted from funds that were not his at the expense of youths who are suffering.”
Asked to respond to the allegations, Lumumba hesitantly denied and said he is not the right person to answer that question but the Ministry itself. He challenged Mavetera to produce audited reports which show that he actually received the money.
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Ruvheneko questioned Lumumba on what he meant in his first video, in which he accused the Minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, Patrick Zhuwao, of telling him to go and get him 3% from the Old Mutual. Lumumba then made sensational claims that the Minister actually blackmailed him to get the said 3%.
“The minister blackmailed me to go to Old Mutual and tell them to release the 3% to him (Zhuwao) failure of which I would be fired, and this is the reason why I was fired”
The Minister was not available for comment on the program resulting in many unanswered issues.
Lumumba has been posting videos in which he claims to be unearthing corruption within the Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment as well as the ruling party, Zanu PF. In one of the videos, he dares President Mugabe to deal with corruption within Zanu PF and appoint people who can deliver in key economic areas or else watch the party being toppled from power.
