ENVIRONMENT minister Saviour Kasukuwere has been summoned, for the second time in less than a year, to appear before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment to clarify how he administered the Marange-Zimunya Community Share Ownership Scheme between 2009 and 2013 when he was in charge of the portfolio.
The summoning, viewed as a “persistent attack” on the former Youth and Indigenisation minister by committee chairperson Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena (Zanu PF), came at a time Kasukuwere had approached Zanu PF chief whip Jorum Gumbo accusing the Midlands MP of abusing his parliamentary post to fight personal political wars.
Kasukuwere yesterday confirmed receipt of the letter requesting him to appear before the committee.
“I have received the letter from Parliament . . . that is all I can say at the moment,” Kasukuwere said.
But sources close to the issue accused Wadyajena of digressing from the committee’s core business.
“We can’t have the whole year dealing with one issue targeting one person, it shows that there is a sinister plot which many committee members are not aware of,” a source who refused to be named said.
Wadyajena has been vocal in his oversight role regarding the controversial management of youth funds and operations around government’s community share ownership schemes.
The probe was launched in 2013 and has opened a can of worms between the two MPs amid allegations that they represented two distinct Zanu PF factions fighting for control of the party organs.
Wadyajena was said to be a close associate of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa while Kasukuwere was said to be in a competing camp named Generation 40 which was against the rise of the Midlands godfather to succeed President Robert Mugabe.
Wadyajena has often stepped on Kasukuwere’s toes, with the Environment minister feeling uneasy over the rookie MP’s apparent attempts to expose his shortcomings when he was still in charge of the Youth Empowerment and Indigenisation ministry.
Among the key findings of the committees have been claims that Kasukuwere’s “lied” around the controversial Marange-Zimunya share ownership debacle.
Last year, Kasukuwere was stopped from attending the hearing by the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda and the then Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma, who ruled that it was impossible for the minister, who has left the office, to speak on any matters when there was a sitting minister unless it was in criminal investigations.
