Zimbabwean police say they are seeking prominent ruling Zanu-PF party businesswoman Jane Mutasa in connection with ”externalising foreign currency” and will arrest her on arrival at Harare International airport.
If caught, Mutasa — currently in South Africa on business — will bring to at least 10 the number of people arrested on the same charge in the past seven days. She is a director of cellular network provider Telecel, whose chief executive, James Makamba, was also arrested last week.
Mutasa denies fleeing the country and says she is in South Africa for a meeting.
Meanwhile, police last week arrested at least five senior officials from cellphone giant Econet, leaving only the state-owned operator NetOne unaffected by arrests of senior managers and directors.
Scores of arrests in recent months have shown at least a degree of seriousness in President Robert Mugabe’s claim that he will crack down in economically and politically troubled Zimbabwe.
Even former finance minister Chris Kureneri remains languishing in squalid prison conditions while facing charges of moving foreign currency out of Zimbabwe. Kureneri, once a rising star in the ruling party, was arrested after a South African newspaper carried stories about a lavish home he had built in a top Cape Town suburb.
Still, prominent Zimbabwean economist John Robertson says the arrests may be an attempt to curry favour with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
”There’s an element of proving that the rule of law is in place,” Robertson said.
”They [Zanu-PF] are trying to show that no one is safe, but there are people who are safe. They have the whole landscape rigged to their advantage and there are people who are beyond arrest.”
Zimbabwe, which is heavily indebted to the IMF, saw the lender close its Harare office last month.
Robertson said the current waves of arrests will probably continue.
”They hate success. The particularly hate success that they can’t use and tap into themselves. Now they feel threatened and are taking some people out as a message to say that business should either be with them or be dead.”
Robertson said the ”trough was getting smaller with less room for the snouts” in Zimbabwe’s embattled economy.
”They’re running out of people to mug,” he said.
Still, Zimbabwe’s police deny they are partisan, claiming they will arrest anyone accused of economic crime or sabotage.
”The problems of gold smuggling, gold panning, money laundering, illegal foreign-currency transactions, corruption, hoarding of cash, tax evasion, under-invoicing exports and externalisation of foreign exchange have been whittled down,” said senior police officer Assistant Commissioner Garikayi Barara.
He said ”nefarious” businessmen ”bent on destroying our economy through selfish, devilish and corrupt business practices presented policing challenges that are new”. — Sapa