Mnangagwa and Mabiza Under Fire Over POSB Deal Stinks To High Heaven.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Attorney General Virginia Mabiza have come under fire for their Clumsy and shady handing of the attempted opaque sale of the state owned people’s own savings Bank (POSB).
The deal involves selling a 70% stake in POSB,which is now run under sovereign wealth entity Mutapa Investment Fund ,to a shadowy foreign boutfit named Hebrew Investment Group(HIG) fronted by pro-Zanu PF cleric Morris Brown Gwedegwe for US70 million dollars, with government retaining a 10% stake and private individuals holding the remaining 20%.
The controversy surrounding this deal stems from concerns about the legitimacy and credibility of HIG, which has been described as a consortium of international scammers”. Government officials and private sector executives say the deal lacks transparency and that proper due diligence was not done. It is clear those are scammers. How can President who calls himself a lawyer and a whole Attorney General fall for such an obvious scam?,a Minister of Finance senior officials said Furthermore, the involvement. Mabiza has raised eyebrowns, as she has been accused of acting as Mnangagwa’s legal conduct to push through the deal, while failing to perform her proper duties as government legal advisor. Mabiza must be raising the Red Flag over such an arbitrary plot to sell public assets, not being a conduct for that.
A private sector executive said: ” Ask any Banker, we deal with these sort of things all the time. To a banker like me, this is a clear scam. The late Oliver Chidawu a businessman and Harare provincial minister, lost more than US 1 million dollars when he was promised US 5 billion by some scammers. That is why such transactions should be handled by bankers and other suitable qualified people, not politicians and bureaucrats. Politicians and their advisers can easily sell public assets without realising at the smell money.”
Mabiza was appointed as the Attorney General in November 2023, replacing Prince Machaya. A senior Harare lawyer said:”What sort of lawyer are they? How can lawyers fall for such a poorly disgusting scam? Do they really think that there is anyone out there who has US 6 billion to throw them?.” The lawyer added: “most importantly,selling a public assets, especially a significant one like POSB, requires shareholder approval and agreement, because it constitute a substantial property transaction that needs to be reviewed and voted on by shareholder; this is particularly true for publicly traded companies where the sale could significantly impact the company’s value and financial standing .POSB is a state enterprise ,a public assets must be open,transparent, fair, honest ,cost-effective and legal,not this dodgy and illegal deal.” The POSB’s planned sale has also sparked concerns about the potential risks to the bank’s depositors and the country’s financial stability. Mnangagwa’s actions put depositors funds at risk.
Apart from being a saving Bank for ordinary people, the POSB is used to process salaries for civil servants, issues salary-based loans and pay foreign currency pensions. With the government seeking to borrow US 6 billion dollars from HIG, many are questioning the wisdom of this move,given Zimbabwe’s already precarious financial and debt to GDP ratio is expected to be 58%, down from 70,3% in 2024 but still unsustainable high. The country’s debt stock is made up of a mix of domestic and external debt.
External debt is US12,3 billion dollars while domestic debt is US 8,7 billion dollars. This means the total debt overhang is US21 billion dollars. Zimbabwe could clear its arrears with bold reforms. The government of Zimbabwe has a road map to resolve it’s debt arrears, championed by the African Development Bank. Overall, the POSB sale plot has all the hallmarks of a dodgy affair, with many Zimbabwe calling for greater transparency and accountability from their leaders Mnangagwa and Mabiza on this. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mushayavanhu has feebly tried to dismiss the deal which is supported by documents including a letter written by Mabiza to stakeholders.