Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu is suing the deputy secretary of the party’s youth wing for US$10 million, claiming defamation.
In summons filed at the Harare High Court on Tuesday, Mpofu references comments made by Lewis Matutu (pictured) during a news conference at the Zanu PF HQ in June, naming Mpofu on a list of allegedly corrupt party officials, government officers and private individuals.
“The statement, in its defamatory, false and misleading allegations states that the plaintiff has violated the very foundation of the fight for democracy in Zimbabwe because of his corrupt proclivities,” Mpofu’s lawyers say.
Matutu allegedly said Mpofu’s corrupt inclinations continue to undermine socio economic transformation in Zimbabwe and, as a corollary, the youths are suffering immensely.
“He said that despite the country’s ample human and natural resources, corrupt individuals like the plaintiff continue to perpetuate alarming socio- economic imbalances in Zimbabwe,” said the lawyers.
Mpofu wants Matutu to make a public statement withdrawing his allegations.
Matutu is already being sued by businessman Frank Buyanga for allegedly linking him to land corruption and faces other threats of lawsuits from some of the individuals he publicly named.
