Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube has professed ignorance over Rusununguko/Nkululeko Holdings, a military-linked company currently implicated in several corruption scandals.
This comes after Independent Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa accused the Defence Ministry and ruling ZANU PF elites of using the company to plunder national resources. The allegations resulted in Mliswa being ejected from Parliament.
Mliswa, a former ZANU PF legislator, questioned the company’s partnership with the Chinese, demanding accountability from the company.
On Tuesday, Ncube said he was not aware of the Rusununguko company. NewZimbabwe.com cites him as saying:
From Honourable T Mliswa, the issue of the war veterans company that you have raised; again, that is exactly what I have just addressed, that we have given them assets in mining, agriculture, tourism, real estate, financial services and there is a group of companies that is run by a board.
I do not have any accounts from Nkululeko/Rusununguko Companies within the defence forces. I will make a request to see those. I have no idea as to how much they are making and how profitable it is.
Mliswa had demanded the disclosure of Rusununguko company’s operations for transparency on the profits the military company is generating from its ventures.
Rusununguko is believed to be owned by the military and has vast interests in agriculture and mining.
Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri last week said Rusununguko was a private company which does not benefit from government budgetary allocations.
The company has been involved in several disputes over the past years. In the latest case, the company was dragged to court by an Oman-based businessman on allegations of seizing his four upmarket houses.