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Herald Reporter
The Permanent Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana has warned the public against abusing the First Family’s name to carry out illegal activities.
This comes after some suspects in the attempted gold smuggling case involving arrested Zimbabwe Miners Federation president, Henrietta Rushwaya, falsely claimed that they were linked to the First Family.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Mangwana said police investigations had established that recent claims by one suspect, Gift Karanda, that members of the First Family were involved in gold smuggling were false and were meant to intimidate law enforcement agencies, thereby obstructing the course of justice.
“Reference is made to the recent arrests of several suspects in an alleged case of attempted gold smuggling at the Robert Mugabe International Airport on October 26, 2020.
“Following the arrests, Government has been made aware that there are some individuals and groups, including one of the suspects in the case, who are abusing the First Family’s name in their illegal activities.
“His Excellency, President Mnangagwa has demonstrated his zero tolerance stance on corruption and organised crime. On her part, the First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, has distanced herself and the family from any of the suspects involved in the gold smuggling case.
“All security apparatus have standing orders to enforce the law blinded to who a person is, knows or is related to. The law itself has adequate provisions to deal with those who interfere with its application or processes,” said Mr Mangwana.
Those who tried to defeat the course by invoking names of powerful or influential people would face the full wrath of the law.
“Government would like to urge citizens to report all suspected cases of crime and corruption to relevant law enforcement agencies and not manipulate such cases for political clout using falsehoods and innuendo.”
Online Reporter