Agriculture minister on corruption charges

Kumbirai Kangai, Zimbabwe’s Minister for Land and Agriculture, appeared in court this week on charges of involvement in a multi-million dollar corruption scandal.

Facing two counts of violating the Prevention of Corruption Act by flouting tendering procedures at the state-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB), he is the most senior figure yet confronted in connection with government corruption. After spending Monday night in jail, he was remanded on bail to appear in court on 14 April.

“Provincial magistrate, Mr Remigius Jemwa, handed a seven-point order compelling Kangai to surrender his passport, report three times a week to the police and live at his Borrowdale home until the matter is finalised,” the official daily, ‘The Herald’ reported on Tuesday.

Kangai, who denied the charges, has served in President Robert Mugabe’s government since independence in 1980. He was also ordered on Tuesday to surrender some of his property title deeds, not to interfere with witnesses, and not to go to the GMB premises or his own office without the escort of a senior police officer.

Analysts said it was likely that the decision to charge him had been approved by Mugabe, who has repeatedly cited corruption as a problem in his government. The country’s energy minister, Enos Chikowore, resigned last month over the country’s fuel shortage crisis.