Bright Matonga, a former deputy minister of information, was detained on suspicion of stealing agricultural machinery valued at close to $500k from Chegutu.
Matonga is charged with robbing farmers who were renting his farm of their equipment.
Commissioner Paul Nyathi, a spokesman for the national police, verified the arrest Friday night.
According to the police, Bright Matonga was detained in Chegutu in relation to two theft complaints filed by farmers who rented his land. The courts issued an order for his arrest. We’ll be sharing more information soon,” he stated.
Matonga worked for the late President Robert Mugabe as a deputy minister.
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Inspector Ian Kohwera, a spokesman for Mashonaland West police, stated that he wanted to talk to the officers who made the arrest before providing any additional information.
Presently detained at the Seruwe Police Station, Matonga is anticipated to appear in Chegutu Magistrates Court shortly.
Matonga and a white farmer allegedly had a business arrangement until a falling out. When the white farmer attempted to get his tools, including tractors, Matonga retained some of them, which is how the accusations against him came about.
In a separate instance in 2019, Matonga was found not guilty despite being charged with deceiving a man with Malawian nationality out of $10,000 through a fraudulent transaction involving obsolete Zimbabwean dollar notes.
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The complainant, Kelvin Chipeta, withdrew the case from the Harare Civil Court, and the charges were dropped. Onesmo Ndoro and Matonga were being charged together.
