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Nduduzo Tshuma Political Editor
ZANU-PF reacted angrily yesterday after a newspaper claimed President Robert Mugabe owed businessman, Ray Kaukonde, some $30 million.The NewsDay, which is published by Alpha Media, claimed President Mugabe told the party’s politburo meeting in Harare last Thursday that they “mustn’t be shocked that Kaukonde might drag him to court over the $30 million debt which he gave the First Family years back.”

Citing faceless “impeccable sources”, NewsDay claimed President Mugabe – speaking shortly after Kaukonde was expelled from the party – said the debt “was accumulated by the First Lady Grace Mugabe before the multi-currency regime era.”

President Mugabe, claimed the paper, “indicated that he would settle the debt soon.”

Yesterday, Zanu-PF politburo members lined up to trash the NewsDay report.

Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, the party’s spokesperson, said: “Somebody must be daydreaming somewhere because I was in the Politburo the entire time and the President never said such a thing. It’s absolute hogwash. Whoever is propagating these lies isn’t in their right senses.”

Fumed Zanu-PF political commissar, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere: “From where we stand, that’s a fabricated and malicious story. It’s absolute nonsense. Whoever made up that story, that’s very irresponsible.”

Cde Joshua Malinga, the party’s secretary for the disabled, said: “The President never said that. To my knowledge, the President never said what’s being claimed.”

Fellow Zanu-PF politburo member and Information Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo confronted Alpha Media owner, Trevor Ncube, and his editor in chief, Vincent Kahiya, on Twitter yesterday.

“This story is false in a big and damaging way. You make my work impossible! To begin with, has Kaukonde ever had this kind of money?” said Prof Moyo.

Ncube responded to Prof Moyo saying: “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I’ve asked the team to follow up and get back.”

Cdes Malinga and Kasukuwere said the NewsDay “fabrication” was a clear abuse of press freedom.

“I know that this is your profession, but one should never take everything they read in the newspapers for fact unless they confirm it with the subject of the story,” Cde Kasukuwere said.

NewsDay claimed “repeated efforts to contact Kaukonde were fruitless” and that “presidential spokesperson George Charamba and Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo’s mobile phones went unanswered throughout the day yesterday [Sunday].”

Blasted Cde Kasukuwere: “That’s very terrible and people should not try to play these stupid games to undermine the President. We need to investigate this matter and get to the bottom of it. In as much as we respect press freedom, we can’t allow such irresponsible reporting.

“We’ll never allow people to make disparaging statements about the country’s leadership.”

The NewsDay report comes a month after the same paper published a false story claiming that Cabinet had missed nine meetings owing to President Mugabe’s foreign trips. The paper alleged that the last meeting was on January 27.

Prof Moyo said last night: “It’s very intriguing that of all media houses, NewsDay have been persistent in inventing stories about President Mugabe against the background of recent claims that Cabinet had only met once this year, when it had met nine times. It’s really intriguing.

“It’s very difficult to excuse it on any professional grounds. They never examined the inherent absurdity of their claims. It’s inherently absurd to imagine Kaukonde having $30 million sitting somewhere, let alone lending it to anybody.”

Responding to the story, the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, said the newspaper was “making spurious allegations in wanton disregard of the cardinal principles of accuracy, fairness and balance.”

The story was totally made up, with Cabinet having met on other weekdays – depending on the President’s availability – other than the traditional Tuesdays.