Who is Chief Murinye?

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Chief Murinye (born Ephias Munodawafa) is a Zimbabwean traditional chief of the Murinye clan in Masvingo. He is most known for his criticism of the corruption in Zanu-PF and the government in 2021.

Education

Chief Murinye graduated with a law degree at the University of Zimbabwe in 2017.^[1]

Business

Chief Murinye is the recipient of a farm near the Great Zimbabwe area which he got from the government.

Chief Murinye owns a transport company which operates long-distance trucks. The company is called E&J Munodawafa (Pvt) Limited. He also owns a trucks company called Zikrag Investments. In August 2020, one of Chief Murinye’s trucks was involved in a pile-up accident in Zambia resulting in more than six people being burnt beyond recognition. Reports said that the truck was unroadworthy and operating without a Certificate of Fitness (COF) ^[2]

Corruption accusations

In February 2021, The Standard reported that Chief Murinye was accused of bribing Tongaat Hullets employees to secure transport contracts for the company’s products. Asked by a journalist about deposits he had made to the accounts of individuals in key positions at the Tongaat Hullets, including $10 000 to Tsalani Hwizimani (Tongaat logistics manager), Chief Murinye said

It’s nothing new that we have donated to Zimbabwe Sugar Sales (ZSS) employees and other structures. It’s not a secret, at times we buy them food just like most companies do. There’s nothing to bribe for because we already have a contract. We usually give them Christmas presents. This time we gave them early because I would be having serious financial commitments in December.”^[2]

Hwizimani confirmed receiving money from Chief Murinye.^[2]

Unpaid Labour Dispute

In December 2020, a man named Charles Mathe sued Chief Murinye for US$41 400. Mathe claimed that he worked for Chief Murinye for four years without being paid his salary. In his court documents, Mathe said that he was employed by Zikrag Investments Private Limited.

He also said that Murinye had not gone to court to face trial despite several summonses served on him. When called by The Masvingo Mirror for a comment Chief Murinye said he never employed Mathe and he did not at any one time have an employment contract with him.

The publication said that when it asked Chief Murinye why he was not attending court cases, he responded by saying that the question was not for the reporter but for the Magistrate to ask.

In his court papers, Nathe said that he got a job as a transport and logistics manager at Chief Murinye’s company in March 2015. He was supposed to get US$900 per month starting from March 2015 but he worked up to August 2018 without receiving any salary from Zikrag.

In August 2018, Zikrag employed Precious Mtetwa for the same position held by Mathe and notified Tongaat that they should no longer deal with Mathe but the newly appointed Mtetwa and this saw Mathe losing his job.

Mathe said he wrote a letter to Zikrag demanding his salaries but it was not responded to.^[3]

Chieftainship Contestation

In 2009 Chief Murinye’s brother, Milton Munodawafa approached the courts seeking an order to have Ephias Munodawafa’s appointment as chief nullified. Milton argued that the customary principles of succession to the Murinye chieftainship were not observed nor given due consideration in the appointment Chief Murinye. Milton said that according to the customs and regulations guiding the Murinye chieftainship, the eldest son of a house that would have been nominated to second a chief should assume the chieftainship.

He approached the courts again in September 2011 and then again in 2015. High Court judge, Justice Amy Tsanga dismissed the matter judging that the dispute was supposed to be resolved by the appointing authority, The President of Zimbabwe, before being elevated to the high court. She argued that “the remedies provided in s283 c (i) & (ii) of the new Constitution” had not been exhausted.^[4

In May 2017 Milton’s lawyer Advocate Webster Chinamora wrote to Minister of Rural Development and Preservation of Culture and Heritage Abedinico Ncube asking for his assistance in asking the provincial assembly of chiefs for Masvingo to convene a meeting over the dispute surrounding the Murinye chieftainship.

Suing Econet for defiling graves – 2012

In 2012, Chief Murinye and Chief Mugabe (Matubede Mudavanhu) took Econet Wireless to court for allegedly defiling a traditional shrine by exhuming human remains and destroying relics while installing a base station at a local hill called Sviba Hills. According to the chiefs the hill was a burial site and a place of ancestral worship for the Duma people. The chiefs said Econet’s actions were a violation of the rights of the Murinye and Mugabe people and the entire clan of the Duma.^[5]

Accusing Zanu-PF leadership of corruption – 2021

In December 2021, speaking at the funeral of Elson Gonye, the head of Pay and Benefits Development and Management Agency who died of Covid-19 related complications in December 2021, Chief Murinye said that Emmerson Mnangagwa would lose the 2023 presidential elections if he did not stop his people from looting.

Following the criticism, chiefs were summoned to a meeting by President Mnangagwa which was also attended by BVice President Constantino Chiwenga on 17 December 2021. At the meeting Chiwenga castigated & threatened Chief Murinye:

–Pindula