End of road for former NSSA director

Brenna Matendere

Harare—The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) on Wednesday (3 April) arrested the former director of investments at the National Social Security Authority (NSSA), Brian Murewa, for allegedly defrauding the entity of US$25, 000 in a botched property deal.

Murewa was suspended in February 2023 on allegations of corruption and fraud.

He immediately disappeared when he reportedly learnt of a probe against him, with the then ZACC spokesperson, Thandiwe Mlobane, subsequently claiming that they had no leads on his whereabouts.

Murewa was finally arrested during a raid at his Borrowdale home in Harare yesterday.

Simiso Mlevu, the current ZACC communications officer, confirmed the development.

“Murewa is alleged to have misrepresented that the price of a guest house purchased by NSSA in Kariba was costing USD$240,000.00 when, in fact, the purchase price for the property was US$215,000.00.

“He allegedly converted the US$25,000.00 balance to his personal use,” she said.

Mlevu said Murewa’s docket which contains evidence against him is ready for prosecution.

“He will appear at the Harare magistrates’ court tomorrow (4 April)” she said yesterday.

Murewa is the former chief investment officer at the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ).

Last year in February, former ZACC chairperson, Loice Matanda-Moyo said the anti-corruption outfit had learnt that Murewa fled the country to South Africa when investigations over his graft case begun.

At the same time that Murewa’s case surfaced and investigations began, NSSA’s then general manager, Arthur Manase, was suspended over a US$750 000 housing loan which he got while he also simultaneously drew a housing allowance at the entity.

He has since resigned.

NSSA, which manages a US$1.2 billion pension fund, invests in real estate and other interests.

The entity is a statutory body with the mandate to provide social security services and can acquire land for future development.

It has been buying and managing fully or partially developed properties.

The corporate body invests in infrastructure development but its image is tainted by a long history of corruption and looting.

In 2019, former Public Service minister, Prisca Mupfumira, was charged for corruption involving US$95 million.

Charges against her ranged from abuse of pension funds to finance Mupfumira’s political campaigns to directing investments of up to US$62 million into a bank against the advice of NSSA’s risk management committee.

In April last year, Mupfumira sought postponement of the case and blamed the magistrate for formulating a case against her.

The matter is still pending at the courts.

In May 2022, Zacc invaded and camped at the NSSA offices in Harare to investigate complaints of alleged malpractices, corruption, corporate governance failures and suspicious movements of senior officials at the authority.