A
senior government official has revealed why government officials ignored advice
that a rock could not produce refined diesel. A strong belief in spirit mediums
convinced top officials, including members of the Presidium to authorise
expenditure of $5 billion in taxpayers’ money on a woman who claimed to have
powers to cause diesel to flow from a rock. The advice was given by a number of
people, including Cabinet ministers, who had expressed scepticism over Nomatter
Tagarira’s claims, that she could induce diesel from a rock at Muningwa hills
in Chinhoyi by pointing her "sacred stick" at it. The Financial
Gazette established this week that police have recovered $3 billion of the $5
billion that government paid to Tagarira alias Mavhunga alias Sekuru Dombo. In
an interview yesterday, Mashonaland West governor Nelson Samkange, who is
believed to have been one of a group of senior officials involved in selling
the diesel story to President Robert Mugabe, confirmed that advice for the
government to proceed with caution were ignored. "There are reasons (why
the advice was ignored). The government and the President believe in African
culture, we believe in spirit mediums. She said the diesel was coming from our
ancestors, so we had to pursue it," said Samkange. "The second reason
is the current fuel problems. If we had not pursued it, she was going to blame
the government."
The
other reason was that in the initial stages, those who were sent to collect
samples from Tagarira came back with "pure diesel", but it later
turned out that the fuel was not coming from the rock. Instead, it emerged that
diesel bought from truck drivers was poured into a tank rigged with pipes, from
which Tagarira drew the fuel, thus duping government officials into believing
that it flowed from a sacred rock. Samkange said if prosecutors asked him to be
a state witness in Tagarira’s trial, he would be keen to testify against her as
she had taken the government for a ride. In addition to the $5 billion the
government also gave Tagarira a farm, a farmhouse and food among other rewards.
Court documents seen by The Financial Gazette this week show that police had
recovered $3 billion of the amount showered on the n’anga. On Tuesday, Tagarira
appeared at Chinhoyi magistrates court and was remanded in custody. Resplendent
in new prison garb – distinguishing her from other detainees – she seemed
crippled with fear as she walked into court. She faces charges under the
Criminal Law (Codification Reform) Act for fraud or alternatively, for being a
"criminal nuisance." The state says in court papers that as a result
of the misrepresentation by the accused, national interests were compromised,
resulting in human and material resources being wasted.