Own Correspondent
Sibusiso Moyo Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo has refuted claims by former Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi that arrested businessman Delish Nguwaya holds a diplomatic passport.
Moyo told state media that the claims were false and baseless.
Mzembi last week demanded President Emmerson Mnangagwa to explain how Nguwaya managed to acquire a diplomatic passport when during his (Mzembi) tenure as tourism minister, he struggled but failed to facilitate one for world-acclaimed Zimbabwean musician, the late Oliver Mtukudzi. The musician, popularly, known as Tuku, died last year and was declared a national hero.
“Mr. President! Please explain why this thief holds a diplomatic passport?” Mzembi asked.
“Despite repeated pleas and submissions for Oliver Mtukudzi to the then Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mmbengegwi to consider a diplomatic passport for this cultural icon (Mtukudzi), my ministry and ZTA (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority), were given a flat NO. Uyu (Nguwaya) akazokosha kupfura Tuku nhai? (So, Nguwaya is more important than Tuku!”
Mzembi is now in self-imposed exile after a nasty fall-out with the Mnangagwa administration following the November 2017 military-backed coup to remove the now late President Mugabe from office.
Minister Moyo said the circulation of the information was only meant to tarnish the good works of the new dispensation.
“Following social media reports of Sunday 21 June 2020 claiming that Mr Delish Nguwaya is a holder of a diplomatic passport, I wish to inform the nation that as the custodians of the diplomatic passports in Zimbabwe, my ministry has no record of our issuing a diplomatic passport to Mr Delish Nguwaya.”
Minister Moyo said if Nguwaya had a diplomatic passport, he could have acquired it fraudulently and whoever had evidence that Nguwaya was a holder of diplomatic passport was supposed to present it to relevant authorities.
Minister Moyo said according to the records from the Registrar-General’s Office, Nguwaya had an ordinary passport.
“I wish to confirm that from the Registrar-General’s Office records, Mr Nguwaya is a bona fide holder of an ordinary passport that was issued in Harare on 4 October 2011 and expires on 3 October 2021,’’ said the minister.
The 36-year-old businessman has appeared in court facing charges of defrauding the Government in the procurement of personal protective equipment for Covid-19 and the matter is pending.
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