The Magistrate’s court has dropped all charges against NetOne CEO, Engineer Raphael Mushanawani. The court granted his application for removal from remand, making the case against him null and void.

In a ruling that exposes the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission‘s failure to conduct a basic investigation before making an arrest, the magistrate’s court found that the Commission abused its power. The court stated that the authorities effectively arrested first and investigated later, which is the reverse of proper procedure.

By Toneo Toneo

The court ruled that there was nothing suspicious to link the accused to the charges of fraud and concealing a conflict of interest from the principal. As such, the applicant was removed from remand due to a lack of evidence.

Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa ruled that all allegations levelled against Raphael Mushanawani for acting without the company’s consent or approval were null and void as he acted according to the approved strategic plan for the year 2025.

“The accused is lost when it is alleged that there was no board authority when the same board approved the strategic plan for 2025, which included the upgrade of the SAGE system, which is currently operational”, she said.

She further stated that there was no evidence linking Mushanawani to the offence nor was there any fraud committed, that of omission or commission.

Accused is at loss as to why he finds himself arrested and prosecuted over an issue which exposes ZACC officers’ lack of understanding of the IT system.

The state alleges that Mushanawani, working with some NetOne officials, fraudulently authorised parallel contracts with suppliers while the company was already implementing a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system supplied by Farevic Systems. Payments amounting to US$654,331.60 were allegedly made to Lunartech Solutions without NetOne board approval, with the total exposure running into US$1.2 million.