A British businessman has appealed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa for justice over the loss of his million-pound business investment in Harare nearly a decade ago.
Paul Westwood claims Temba Mliswa, an independent MP, forcibly took over his company Noshio Motors and Benbar in 2009 under the guise of the indigenisation act, which required large white and foreign-owned firms to cede majority shares to blacks. At the time Mliswa was a Zanu-PF MP and ruling party official.
In a video posted to YouTube on Sunday, Westwood speaks from his hospital bed in Scotland where he says he is being treated for cancer brought on by the stress of his battle with Mliswa.
“What happened to me was wrong and I’d like the world to know that eight years and counting I’m still waiting for justice,” Westwood says.
Watch the video below
Mliswa has not commented on the latest allegations. The MP was acquitted of wrongdoing in 2011. During the trial he accused Westwood of being a drug addict who was not mentally fit to give evidence, a NewsDay report said.
Mliswa has gained prominence recently as chairperson of a parliamentary committee probing the loss of state diamond revenue at mines in the east of the country.
Westwood alleges in his video that Mliswa bribed court officials to escape justice in 2011 and enjoyed protection from his uncle Didymus Mutasa, at the time a minister in then president Robert Mugabe’s cabinet.
“I humbly appeal to the new president, His Excellency President Mnangagwa: my case was never dealt with fairly,” Westwood adds.
‘Never again’
“This is my plea: please, let’s show the world; let’s prove to other investors – Zimbabwe is open for business and this will never, ever happen again,” he adds.
In his first few months in power, Mnangagwa has watered down strict indigenisation laws that will now only apply to firms mining diamonds and platinum. He has vowed to stamp out corruption and urged overseas companies to invest in Zimbabwe.
Source:News24.com