DOMBO Projects

*Zanu PF MP faces money laundering rap after CDF cash flows to his companies*

HARARE – Tasara Hungwe, the Zanu PF MP for Mberengwa East, is under investigation for allegedly diverting over ZiG1.3 million from a parliamentary Constituency Development Fund (CDF), ......

Parliament disbursed the funds in August last year, and Hungwe is accused of quickly initiating a series of transfers that ultimately saw the money land in the account of a microfinance company, which allegedly paid him out in United States dollars.

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) was reportedly poised to arrest Hungwe last week, but sources claim a senior Zanu PF official intervened to stop the move.

ZACC declined to respond to questions, while Hungwe denies any wrongdoing.

Sources say the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Financial Intelligence Unit is assisting in the investigation.

Hungwe, a first-term MP elected in 2023, is a director of two companies – Tatiude (Pvt) Ltd and Matquick Hardware (Pvt) Ltd.

Mberengwa East received ZiG1,341,500 (about US$53,000) under the CDF, paid out on August 14, 2025, according to documents seen by ZimLive.

Soon after, Hungwe transferred ZiG799,641.32 to Tatiude and ZiG440,171.37 to Matquick Hardware, both linked to him.

The companies then moved the funds to Simbaramabwe Construction and Hardware (Pvt) Ltd – ZiG760,000 from Tatiude and ZiG361,000 from Matquick.

Simbaramabwe subsequently channelled the money to Success Microfinance, where the trail goes cold. Investigators believe the firm then paid Hungwe in US dollars.

A source familiar with the probe said there were “strong suspicions of misuse, possible diversion of public funds from their intended purpose, and an obvious conflict of interest potentially amounting to money laundering.”

CDF allocations are meant for constituency projects pre-approved by Parliament and managed by a local committee comprising the area senator, proportional representation MP, selected councillors and traditional leaders. Signatories are drawn from this committee and operate a designated account.

ZACC had not responded to detailed questions at the time of publication, despite earlier indications it would do so. We had specifically asked the anti-graft body to respond to allegations of political interference in its investigations.

Hungwe insisted he could account for the funds but declined to answer questions about the companies involved, identify members of his CDF committee, or specify which projects had been funded.

“Diverting CDF money, me? That is not a true story,” he said in response to written questions which he did not address.

Hungwe is the second Zanu PF MP to be investigated over alleged CDF abuse this year.

In January, Chiredzi West MP Darlington Chiwa was arrested by ZACC for allegedly diverting over ZiG990,000 (about US$50,000 at the April 2025 exchange rate) from the constituency account into his personal accounts.

He is accused of using the funds for personal expenses, including beer, shoes, groceries and building materials, with only a small portion going towards constituency projects.

*“This has gone too far”: Sadio Mané slams AFCON ruling*

_"This is not the football we are fighting for, not the Africa we believe in. There is too much corruption in our game, and it is killing the passion of millions of fans across the continent"_

HARARE — Senegal icon Sadio Mané has criticized the decision by the Confederation of African Football to strip Senegal of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title and award it to Morocco, describing the ruling as damaging to African football.

Senegal had beaten Morocco 1–0 in the January final, but the match was overshadowed when Senegal players walked off the pitch in protest after a late penalty was awarded to Morocco. Head coach Pape Thiaw instructed his players to return to the dressing room, delaying the closing moments of the game for several minutes before play resumed.

CAF’s Appeal Board later ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match when the players left the field.

A statement from CAF said: “The CAF Appeal Board decided that in application of Article 84 of the Regulations of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the Senegal National Team is declared to have forfeited the Final Match of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2025 (“the Match”), with the result of the Match being recorded as 3–0 in favour of the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF).”

The decision overturned the result of the final and awarded Morocco the title.

Reacting on Instagram, Mané expressed anger at the ruling and raised concerns about governance in African football.

“What happened went too far. This is not the football we are fighting for, not the Africa we believe in. There is too much corruption in our game, and it is killing the passion of millions of fans across the continent,” Mané wrote.

“The players give everything on the field, but decisions off of it decide the matches and the trophies. I am deeply disappointed not only for Senegal, but for African football as a whole. We deserve better. The fans deserve fairness, transparency and respect.”

The ruling has sparked widespread debate across African football, with critics questioning whether the result of a completed final should be overturned by administrative decision.

*Chiwenga says future generations will ‘spit on our graves’ over minerals plunder*

HARARE – Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has warned against the export of unprocessed minerals, declaring that Zimbabwe risks being remembered with contempt by future generations if it fails to industrialise rural communities and retain value from its vast mineral wealth.

Speaking during a familiarisation tour of Sandawana Mine in Mberengwa on Wednesday, Chiwenga backed the cabinet’s decision to immediately ban the export of raw lithium and concentrates accelerating a prohibition originally planned for 2027.

The mine is owned by the Mutapa Investment Fund under its energy minerals portfolio.

Chiwenga said it would be unforgivable for the current generation to squander what he described as Africa’s largest lithium resource without creating wealth that outlives today’s leadership.

“It would be foolish to leave no legacy for future generations,” he said as he stood before a vast open pit. “They will ask about those pits and we will tell them it was a lithium mine.

“They will ask what we benefitted, and if there is nothing to show, it will be a shame on us.”

He warned that history would judge leaders harshly if they allowed the country’s resources to be stripped without value addition.

“If we don’t leave anything for the future generations, they will spit on our graves,” he said. “Let us leave a legacy that will be respected.”

He criticised the country’s past experience with raw lithium exports, saying it brought environmental harm and infrastructural damage without tangible national returns.

“We were exporting lithium ore, our roads were getting destroyed by trucks, pollution and everything but we were getting nothing. When we do mining, we should do value addition for economic growth.”

The vice president said Zimbabwe must urgently shift from being a supplier of raw materials to a hub of mineral processing industries, especially in rural areas where the resources are found.

“We want rural industrialisation and the growth of our nation,” he said. “We want to live to see the day where we will have tall buildings in Mberengwa, modern infrastructure where we once had pastures and mines. We must build cities here in the rurals.”

His comments came as Sandawana Mine announced it is advancing plans for a lithium concentrator plant costing up to US$275 million, expected to process three million tonnes of ore annually with commissioning targeted for December 2027.

Government officials say the accelerated ban on raw lithium exports was triggered by widespread abuse of the window period meant to allow companies to prepare for beneficiation.

On Tuesday mines minister Polite Kambamura announced that some actors had instead rushed to mine and stockpile ore including illicitly transporting it to a neighbouring country for future export.

Information secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana called the conduct “nothing less than the plunder of our national heritage” and “a direct undermining of our sovereignty.”

The cabinet decision shuts the door on the export of unprocessed lithium with immediate effect.

Chiwenga told traditional leaders during the tour that beneficiation was “no longer optional” but the cornerstone of economic transformation.

“We are not the first nor the last,” he said. “There are generations who came before us and left these natural resources. We should do the same and leave wealth for the future generations.”

Chiwenga will also visit other mining projects in Midlands during the next three days on a similar mission.