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allegations of criminal abuse of office after he reportedly ordered officers in his ministry to buy fuel without following proper procedures.
He allegedly used his position to influence the selection of NOOA Petroleum for the supply of five million litres of fuel early this year.
Chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed the minister’s arrest.
“He has been arrested and as of now I can’t divulge much except that investigations are still in progress,” he said.
Snr Asst Comm Bvudzijena said Minister Ma-ngoma was charged with abuse of office as a public officer and was still in police custody last night.
He said Minister Mangoma would appear in court as soon as investigations have been completed.
In a statement, MDC-T president Mr Morgan Tsvangirai described the minister’s arrest as an assault on the Global Political Agreement.
“His arrest is nothing but a continuation of the calculated assault on the people of Zimbabwe. The fact that a Cabinet minister can be arrested by a constable is a reflection of Zanu PF’s total disregard to the basic tenets of decency. His arrest is an assault on the GPA.”
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Nelson Chamisa said Dube, Manikai and Hwacha law firm were representing Mangoma.
He said: “As a party we have not received much information regarding the case. However, we see no logic or justice in the matter as Mangoma explained himself to his colleagues in Cabinet.”
Mr Chamisa claimed that his party was not aware of the charges against Minister Mangoma.
Sources yesterday said Minister Mangoma would be charged with corruption.
“Minister Mangoma allegedly used his autho-rity and issued out unlawful instructions to ju-nior officers to carry out the deal.
“He instructed some junior administration officers, notwithstanding the dictates of the law to offer a contract and make payment for a company that could not have been under Government contract to supply the fuel,” said one source.

The sources said NOOA Petroleum was not vetted when it was awarded the contract to supply the fuel.
“Minister Mangoma does not have the authority to vet companies and he is the only one who knew about the company when he pushed officers to give it the deal,” said the source.
Another Government source said despite the fact that the NOOA Petroleum deal was expensive, the company failed to supply the fuel.
“Minister Mangoma’s argument that he was forced to go into the deal because there was an emergency does not hold any water. The NOOA Petroleum deal was very expensive and the company was supposed to have promptly delivered the fuel.
“He should not have used tied public funds for expensive fuel. After all the emergency came and passed without any supplies and our traditional suppliers, who are cheap, are still supplying the fuel,” the source said.
Minister Mangoma early this year allegedly breached Government’s procurement procedures and ordered the withdrawing of US$6 million from the Debt Redemption Fund to pay NOOA Petroleum for the fuel.
However, only the Head of State and Government has the authority to use the fund for strategic purposes.
The deal resulted in acute fuel shortages in January and early February after NOOA failed to deliver.
Minister Mangoma last month told journalists that NOOA Petroleum offered five million litres when there was “virtually” no fuel in Zimbabwe.
He said there was a six-day delay in transferring the money and the first train to transport the fuel spent more than 10 days at Beitbridge Border Post without being cleared.