Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabehas reportedly told Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Jonathan Moyo to stop taking legal steps against Deputy President Emmerson Mnangagwa and any other member of the ruling Zanu-PF party.
A NewsDay report quoted an unidentified source from the politburo as saying that Mugabe told Moyo to abandon his move, and instead seek recourse within the party structures.
Moyo recently threatened to sue Mnangagwa, Information Minister Christopher Mushohwe and Information Ministry Permanent Secretary who is also Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba, among others, accusing them of using state institutions to launch a “smear campaign” against him.
This came following revelations that Moyo and his deputy Godfrey Gandawa siphoned more than $400 000 from the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef).
In a statement published on the New Zimbabwewebsite, Moyo claimed that Mnangwagwa was using the country’s anti-graft agency, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to settle political scores.
Moyo said that he was a victim of “succession politics”.
The minister also claimed that Zacc had abandoned its own constitutional mandate of being an independent graft fighting unit.
Earlier this month, he handed himself to Zaccafter he admitted through a series of tweets that he had diverted the Zimdef funds to his constituency, said a Chronicle report.
Zimdef funds were meant to support students at tertiary institutions, the report said.
