<!–
–>
HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has ordered the sale of the People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB) to a consortium fronted by Zanu PF-supporting cleric Morris Brown Gwedegwe, towards recommendation from the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency which questioned the supply of funds for his Hebrew Investment Group, ZimLive can reveal.
The POSB, now below the Mutapa Investment Fund, is certainly one of a minimum of eight loss-making parastatals the federal government has put up on the market.
Instead of a public course of to ask bids for POSB, Mnangagwa – via legal professional basic Virginia Mabiza – handpicked Hebrew Investment Group because the funding associate.
Under the phrases of the deal, Hebrew Investment Group will take up 70 p.c shareholding in POSB by contributing US$70 million of the US$100 million required to capitalise the financial institution.
The authorities of Zimbabwe will stay with a ten p.c stake financed via current POSB belongings whereas the opposite $20 million for a 20 p.c stake will come from personal people.
A three way partnership settlement signed between Mabiza and Hebrew Investment Group CEO Professor Emile Kue on December 18, 2024, additionally says Hebrew Investment Group will advance the federal government of Zimbabwe a US$6 billion mortgage to be repayed over 30 years.
The mortgage will entice curiosity of 0.3 p.c each year and it’s to be repaid via the federal government’s dividends from its POSB shareholding.
ZimLive understands ZIDA questioned the corporate’s supply of funds and tried to stall the signing of the three way partnership settlement, however Mnangagwa and Mabiza railroaded it via.
In a February 13, 2025, letter to the POSB CEO and board, Mabiza launched Hebrew Investment Group as “our joint venture partners with the government of Zimbabwe in support of President E.D. Mnangagwa’s socio-economic development plan.”
Mabiza stated Hebrew Investment Group representatives Gwedegwe, CEO Kue and the corporate’s vice chairman Professor Israel Kodiaga would go to POSB on a familiarisation tour.
She directed POSB to, amongst different issues, enable for a “first hand examination of the bank’s vaults which are intended to be used for direct monetisation by the Hebrew Investment Group.”
Gwedegwe is a former Anglican bishop kicked out of the church over alleged embezzlement of funds. He was sworn in as a member of the Zimbabwe Defence Commission by Mnangagwa in May 2019.
Last yr, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches disassociated itself from Gwedegwe after he attended the Zanu PF annual convention in Bulawayo claiming to be representing the council.
Not a lot is thought about Professor Emile Kue. A local of Ethiopia, he’s described on-line because the president of the National Association of Hebrews within the United States, based mostly in Texas.
An internet site below improvement additionally hyperlinks him to a “Proposed Hebrew Federal Credit Union… designed to control the US$1.9 trillion spending power of the black community in the United States for the future of the next generation.”
Professor Kodiaga, in the meantime, is a Kenyan nationwide who says on his LinkedIn that he’s the director basic of African affairs at Global Unification International based mostly in Queensland, Australia.
He says he supplies “leadership, co-coordinating research, training and consultancy on African governance, peace and security architecture” within the function.
A Google seek for “Hebrew Investment Group” yielded no outcomes.
Social activist Jealousy Mawarire claims the brand new POSB traders are “bogus” and says Mnangagwa’s function within the transaction smacks of corruption.
“One guy is a bogus investor in the United States (Prof Kue) who set up Twitter and Facebook accounts in 2020 which are inactive, and he gets a presidential directive written in his name and bank vaults are opened to criminals,” Mawarire stated in an interview with HStv
“The president has a finance minister, however he instructs the institution of parallel buildings.
“If the president did not apply his mind before authorising this transaction, it speaks volumes of his cognitive state. It means he is no longer fit for office.”
Questions left for legal professional basic Mabiza had not been answered.
