29 July 2020

ECONET SHAREHOLDERS REIGN IN YOUR MAFIA ENTERPRIZE.

To:

• Old Mutual Investment Group (Pty) Ltd • Rudnick Family • Austin Eco Holdings Ltd. • Northunberland Investments (Pty) Ltd. • Douglas Mboweni • BlackRock Fund Advisors • Sanlam Investment Management (Pty) Ltd.

Two weeks ago the Zimbabwean government issued a long overdue search and seizure warrant for Econet Wireless (Pty) Limited (hereafter referred to interchangeably as EWL or Econet) documents to investigate allegations of money laundering, illegal foreign currency trading and externalization by the company.

As a civil society organization, we believe that the time has come for us as concerned Zimbabweans to inform you, the shareholders of Econet, Cassava and appendages like Liquid Telecom, on the genesis of what can only be described as Econet organized crime and how this malfeasance has been entrenched in the Econet ecosystem by its founder Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, who has been at the epicenter of this corrupt mob.

Introduction.

It is common cause that Econet Wireless (Pty) Limited was listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in 1998.

The facts are clear that EWL’s controlling shareholder, TS Masiyiwa Holdings Limited (TSM), was a Zimbabwean registered company in which Mr. Masiyiwa and his wife fraudulently allotted to themselves 67.5% of the company’s issued share capital.

It is not in dispute that TSM was issued 60% of the capital in Econet [EWL] pursuant to the capitalization of foreign imported equipment that at all material times did not belong to TSM.

You may not be in possession of a report in relation to the investigations into the affairs of First Mutual Life, a Zimbabwean insurance company that fraudulently invested Z$180 million in EWL in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the company’s shares and debentures. If need be that report can be availed to you on request.

The report contains allegations that Mr. Masiyiwa had constructive knowledge of the fraud in EWL’s listing, however, they are yet to be openly and transparently addressed by him. After failing to interdict the publication of the said report in the High and Supreme Courts of Zimbabwe in 1999, Strive Masiyiwa skipped the country on rumors of pending arrest and has not returned to the country since. Notwithstanding, he has chosen to misrepresent the true reason why he left Zimbabwe in a huff as being linked to the late President Mugabe’s dictatorial and anti-business policy stance. Nonetheless, the question is now that President Mugabe is gone, why has he still not returned to his country of birth and the territory generating the bulk of his wealth?

Background.

The struggles of Econet start from its inception, which is captured succinctly by statements made by former funder and shareholder Daniel Shumba who asserts that:

After Econet had lost the bid for Zimbabwe’s second cellular network license in 1998, senior members of government (names of the then Vice President Joshua Nkomo and Edison Zvobgo have been thrown around) selectively leaked classified information to Strive [only] on how the bid adjudication had been undertaken for Econet and five other companies to lose out on the license.

1) Strive who was running a one-man show then with foreign partners Telecel International, would then go ahead and use this information to launch a court challenge of the license awarded to Telecel.

2) Insiders say Telecel was awarded the license due to its broad based black empowerment profile which encompassed women, war veterans, black farmers, black mine workers, business people, empowerment activists and a diverse cross section of society, in line with government’s black empowerment drive.

3) It also turns out that unlike Econet, Telecel had telecommunications engineers like Leo Mugabe and Chemist Siziba to bolster its credentials.

4) The court challenge was received by a politicized court headed by a former white Rhodesian judge by the name of Anthony Gabbay who was partial to colonial capitalist values. As a result the court cancelled Telecel’s license without instructing POTRAZ (Postal And Telecommunications Regulatory Authority Of Zimbabwe) to institute a new bid.

5) Irrespective of the judgment, the Zimbabwean government went ahead and issued the second license to Telecel, in pursuit of its political aims of social redress, racial economic transformation and broad based black empowerment that was being championed earnestly by Strive’s own IBDC.

History Of Cellular Technology And Indigenization In Zimbabwe.

6) What is ironic about the whole affair is, Strive Masiyiwa as the Secretary General of black economic empowerment group IBDC (Indigenous Business Development Center), was a huge beneficiary of affirmative action, preferential procurement and nepotism as a relative of Minister Joseph Musika and close family friend of Vice President Joshua Nkomo. All of which led to his and Stanley Goredema’s company Retrofit being awarded several preferential contracts to:

a. install electricity in pay booths at the National Sports Stadium in ,

b. electrifying President Mugabe’s Zvimba rural home and

c. electrifying the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe building in 1996, all without experience in that arena because of connections and the construction industry targeted indigenization Set Aside Program.

7) Consequently, Retrofit, lacking experience, would botch up the jobs at President Mugabe’s home and the Reserve Bank, putting Strive into bankruptcy and at loggerheads with Mugabe according to a number of people close to the affair.

8) Strive’s position in IBDC, the organization’s drive to increase black ownership of the economy, would give him, politicians and other leading black entrepreneurs a front row seat in the rolling out of cellular technology in Zimbabwe.

9) It is said by involved parties that this front row seat would lead to Leo Mugabe, a telecommunications engineer bringing a demo cellular network base station to a telecoms exhibition held at the Sheraton in 1996.

10) From this exhibition, Leo petitioned then Minister of Communications Mrs Chitepo for a cellular license and she advised him to partner with Chemist Siziba the Chairman of IBDC who had also formed his own cellular company.

11) Leo and Chemist then came together and formed Cosmos Communication. Soon after that, the government issued the first cellular license to Netone, a cellular subsidiary of Parastatal PTC.

12) Leo and Chemist began to lobby for the support of IBDC in a bid for the second cellular network license, at which point the two engineers in the field introduced Strive Masiyiwa, an electrical engineer specializing in air conditioning, to the cellular business.

13) The introduction led to Leo drafting a document on cellular networking and an agreement between him, Chemist and Strive to form a network partnership was struck.

14) To initiate the project, a fact-finding mission to Telecel Zaire, one of the first networks on the continent, was organized for five members of IBDC.

15) On the advice of Joshua Nkomo, Leo as a Mugabe, was advised to stay behind, while Chemist and Strive went for the trip on his behalf to avoid bringing too much attention to the affair.

16) It’s said that when Strive got to Zaire he began to negotiate for Miko Rwaitare of Telecel to partner him to form an entity that excludes Leo and Chemist.

17) Of particular advantage to Strive and other black entrepreneurs in black empowerment groups at the time, was the fact that Zimbabwe’s Indigenization [affirmative action] policies, effectively shut out international cellular networks from direct participation in Zimbabwe’s cellular license bid, unless they came in as technical partners supporting Zimbabweans who were the only ones allegeable to tender for licenses.

18) Relying on the same pro-black Zimbabwean affirmative action regulations, Strive asked Telecel International to be his technical partner even though Telecel International were already in bed with the consortium forming Telecel Zimbabwe.

19) On his return from Zaire, Strive immediately approached the courts to force government to issue a second license because government was leaning towards maintaining it’s monopoly in communication, by having PTC control the fixed network and its cellular subsidiary Netone.

20) In the court challenge by Strive to force government to issue another license, the court ruled that government should conduct a tender for the second cellular license that was subsequently awarded to Telecel.

21) The problem with Econet was its structure was not broad based as Telecel Zimbabwe because it was a one-man show led by a broke man who had just been sequestrated after Retrofit failed to complete the electrification of the RBZ Building. As a result, as indicated above, Telecel was awarded the second license in a tender contested by six other companies.

22) After, the government proceeded to give Telecel the second license, Strive and his funder Daniel Shumba launched another court application in the high court to contest

their constitutional right to communicate, with the intention of advancing the argument that Zimbabwe had enough spectrum to issue a third cellular license to Econet since it had been prejudiced in the adjudication of the second license.

23) They lost in the High Court but succeeded in the Supreme Court where an irrevocable decision to grant them the third license without requesting a rebid was made by Justice Sandura. An extraordinary decision to say the least.

24) Daniel sheds light on the events by saying that his investment in the [Econet] business was used to hire renowned American Telco lawyer Judith O’Neal to not only represent them in court against the government of Zimbabwe, but, more importantly, to bribe judges such as Justice Anthony Gabbay, Wilson Sandura, Godfrey Chidyausiku, McNally and others in the Supreme Court to lubricate them to overstep their authority and unilaterally award a third cellular network license to Econet, without a competitive bid against the other five bidders.

25) The problem with the court’s decision was the only institution authorized and equipped to assess competitive cellular tenders, adjudicate and issue a cellular license in the country was POTRAZ (Postal And Telecommunications Regulatory Authority Of Zimbabwe) and not a court.

26) Nevertheless, in this case, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe circumvented POTRAZ to unilaterally and unprocedurally award the third cellular license to Econet without scoring it against the other five networks that were involved in the second bid.

27) According to Daniel, this result was secured by Judith O’Neal paying night time visits to senior government officials, executives at POTRAZ and state lawyers to persuade them not to resist the unilateral issuing of the license to Econet by the courts. He never indicated what inducements were given to these individuals for their complicity, but it would be interesting to see how many of them ended up with shares in Econet and significant improvements to their asset columns over the period.

28) In Daniel’s own words, Econet did not deserve the license because they did not have the prerequisite cash guarantee to pay for the license the moment it was awarded as was required by the tender.

As a result, the moment Econet was awarded the third license, they asked the court to change the terms of the bid and give them a 10 month grace to raise the money to pay for the license, yet the license fee should have been paid the moment the license was awarded.

29) It’s further alleged in the report (referred to above) by an Inspector appointed by the Minister Of Finance to investigate the abuse of funds at First Mutual Life Assurance Society Of Zimbabwe (FML), that Econet fraudulently acquired Z$180mil for its initial IPO from the mutual fund in connivance with the board, without the approval of the investment committee. Until today Jackson Muzivi a member of that investment committee is still in court fighting retaliatory victimization for blowing the whistle on the board.

30) As soon as the Inspector began to interrogate the affairs at FML between 1998-99, a majority of the disgraced board would summarily resign with some admitting to flaunting the regulations and insurance laws in not just the Econet case.

31) Once the Inspector had completed the report, it is alleged that Nigel Chanakira persuaded the minister of finance, a family acquaintance, to suppress the report after Strive failed to gag it through the courts.

32) This in turn gave Strive the window to skip the country after a police investigator leaked rumors of his pending arrest. These are some of the signs that even though Strive and his associates did not yet have money, they already had corrupt influence upon our law

enforcement arms that were supposed to be impartial to investigate him.

33) Thereafter, the company received additional funds for the initial listing from National Social Security Authority (NSSA) through the notoriously conflicted First Mutual Life board member Nigel Chanakira soliciting the investment from another connection, then chairman of NSSA Enos Chiura.

34) For context, according to Eddie Cross, a leading economist and government financial advisor: NSSA is a Zimbabwean body corporate regulated by the National Social Security Act to collect and secure national workers pensions. Over the last 25yrs of its existence, Zimbabwean workers have contributed US$8 billion into the fund but today the fund is valued at a mere $1.2bil because of shady deals.

35) The Econet deal was one of the first of such shady investments that opened the door for the plunder of our parent’s pensions.

36) With these indiscretions, Econet was listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) in a manner that many financial experts say was questionable, especially considering that Econet did not have three years of financial statements for the sponsor to illustrate the viability of the entity.

37) This listing also ignored the fact that the founder had failed financially with Retrofit, to a point of being sequestrated for failing to pay his bond and debts.

38) Such disregard for Mr.Masiyiwa’s track record is the reason why now, Econet continues to be clouded by allegations of malfeasance, which most other companies in Zimbabwe never find themselves associated.

39) Of material interest is the fact that the listing was facilitated by Standard Bank South Africa, which has been fined in South Africa for sabotaging the rand. Prior to Econet they were instrumental in propping up Cecil Rhodes and the apartheid government during the crimes against humanity of colonialism and apartheid.

40) Another player was NMB Bank Limited, which at the time was run by Pattison Timba (a friend of Strive Masiyiwa) and Continental Stockbrokers, which was owned by NMB Bank.

In the background, conducting the criminal orchestra was Nigel Chanakira again, this time as owner of Kingdom Stockbrokers and Kingdom Securities. By now it should be clear that this character was entangled in serious conflict of interest for the benefit of Strive and Econet as board member of First Mutual Life, lubricator of NSSA’s chairman, stockbroker for EWL, relative to judges involved in Econet cases and the finance minister.

Fraud and Fraudulent Misrepresentation.

41) All these shenanigans bring us to the issue of institutional fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation disclosed in a recent letter written by Chairman of Econet’s former technical partner Telecel International Limited, Mr Joe Gatt. In his letter Joe claims that the EWL prospectus states that TS Masiyiwa Holdings (TSM) had paid for a mobile switch and then invested it in Econet, yet according to his recollection, neither EWL nor TSM ever paid for the Ericsson switch, which he says still belongs to Telecel.

Lying Under Oath In South African Court To Defeat Ends Of Justice.

42) As a result of similar institutionalized misrepresentations, in 2019, Daniel Shumba filed

a case with the Sandton Police station in South Africa against Strive Masiyiwa and Douglas Mboweni for lying under oath to defeat the ends of justice in an effort to silence voices exposing fraud in Strive’s and Econet’s dealings.

43) He also claims that he was induced into investing capital in Econet and Mascom Botswana on the promise of a 25% stake in an entity called Mascom Zimbabwe, which Strive passed-off as the beneficiary of Econet Wireless and Mascom Botswana.

44) He adds that on IPO [after Econet won the network license in Zimbabwe], he discovered that no entity by the name of Mascom Zimbabwe was ever incorporated in the country. Instead, an entity by the name of TS Masiyiwa Holdings (TSM), which was meant to be a 43% shareholder in Mascom, was presented as the owner of 100% of EWL and was offering 40% to the public.

45) Daniel says he challenged Strive who then allocated to him a 10% stake in TSM for his contribution, instead of the 25% that he bought in Mascom. The Econet prospectus then recorded Daniel as a 2.5% shareholder in TSM.

46) This did not sit well with Daniel, so in March 1999, he asked to sell his shares in a TSM board meeting where none of the other shareholders could afford to buy his shares.

47) He was directed to Nigel Chanakira who sold Econet shares that he purported to be Daniel’s, to NSSA when Daniel never at any point owned Econet shares but 10% in TSM. In a 2005 court case (NSSA vs. Nigel Chanakira) the court would be misled to believe that TSM shares were interchangeable with publicly listed Econet shares, which is an anomaly in company law and ZSE rules.

48) Nigel then sold 43,5mil of Daniel’s non-existent Econet shares to NSSA at $4,25/share and informed Daniel that the shares had been bought for $2,00 a share. Daniel accepted the offer and Nigel, in contravention of his broker mandate, pocketed the difference.

49) In due course Daniel was alerted by a third party to the fact that his shares were sold at $4,25 after which he opened a case and Nigel was arrested.

50) Nigel is then said to have bragged that he used his relationship with one of the judges [Judge Chidyausiku] in the Supreme Court who is among those allegedly bribed by Judith O’Neal, to get off the hook.

51) In 2005, NSSA approached the courts (in NSSA vs. Nigel 2005) after failing to get their share certificates from Nigel. Nigel would be let off the hook once again by the notorious Supreme Court after losing in lower court.

52) Now, considering that, for Daniel to sell shares in TSM, there was a board meeting and a resolution reached in the presence of Chairman Strive Masiyiwa, allowing TSM shares to be sold to an outsider after other shareholders in the vehicle could not raise the capital to buy the shares. It is conceivable that Strive was aware of and authorized the fraud and misrepresentation of selling Econet shares, which Daniel never held, in lieu of TSM shares to avoid dilution of control.

53) It’s only recently that a financial advisor explained to Daniel that contrary to the claim that TSM shares were exchangeable with EWL shares, he never at any point held any shares in Econet, therefore any proceeds he received for Econet shares were unjust enrichment because his shares in TSM were never sold.

54) Daniel also points out various discrepancies in the Econet prospectus such as the dates Strive Masiyiwa says he registered Econet, which range from 1993 to 1998. There are also a number of blatant lies [fraudulent misrepresentations] pertaining to the asset ownership and shareholding structure that Daniel queries.

55) These are material issues that have pushed Daniel to challenge the lies told under oath by Mr. Mboweni and Mr. Masiyiwa in their gag order application in South African courts.

Partial Courts In South Africa.

56) Of concern to us is even though Mboweni’s application to gag Rutendo Matinyarare, Pardon Gambakwe and Mutumwa Mawere from disclosing the same information contained in the Zimbabwe Ministry of Finance report that Strive failed to gag in both the Zimbabwean High Court and Supreme Court. A Judge in South Africa is rumored to have granted the gag order on the same facts, which defeats the ends of justice and access to information.

Never Ending Investigations Against Econet.

57) Since the licensing of Econet, Strive Masiyiwa and Econet have been under perpetual investigation for recurring allegations of illegal externalization and money laundering of foreign currency out of Zimbabwe into tax havens like Mauritius and the BVR, where and Econet Virgin Islands are registered.

58) The question is why are they the only company in Zimbabwe repeatedly entangled in such investigations despite some judges blocking warrants to make it difficult for investigators to get access to Econet records for their investigations.

59) Many former Econet executives who choose to speak off the record for fear of reprisals, claim that transfer pricing, invoice tampering, the use of local cash proceeds to trade on the forex black market and the smuggling of huge bags of money out of Zimbabwe, are rife at Econet.

60) They allege that this is how Econet has been able to keep its foreign shareholders happy, while Strive also uses offshore entities to supply Econet Zimbabwe with overpriced equipment that is paid for by forex allocations to Mauritius offshore accounts, where Strive extracts hefty commissions.

61) Strive is also known to make questionable foreign loans to Econet, which are amortized at lucrative foreign currency interest repayments from roaming earnings and nostro Ecocash receipts as another means of externalization.

62) It is through these methods of money laundering that Zimbabwean investigators plausibly suspect that Strive has evaded tax and laundered billions out of Zimbabwe to inexplicably build a multi-billion dollar empire from a country with no foreign reserves and very strict foreign exchange controls to stem foreign currency outflows.

63) Otherwise, how else has Strive accumulated billions of US dollars outside Zimbabwe to build Liquid Telecom, , Mascom Botswana, his TSM endowment and other ventures outside Zimbabwe, when the records of the Reserve Bank Of Zimbabwe have not authorized a commensurate proportion of billions in foreign outflows to Econet or TSM?

64) How has Econet been able to keep its foreign institutional shareholders happy when dividends are issued in Zimbabwean currency? How do those dividends reach investors outside Zimbabwe without corresponding application to the Reserve Bank for forex allocations or trading for currency on the new forex market?

The Death Of A Whistleblower.

65) The above allegations were corroborated in 2013 by the case of Edward Mutambanadzo, a friend of Strive Masiyiwa and Director of Paul Edwards Shipping Company that cleared imports for Econet.

66) He turned whistleblower when he presented evidence to Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and Reserve Bank Of Zimbabwe (RBZ) claiming that for 10yrs he and other smaller clearing agents were tasked with clearing Econet’s imports, under invoicing them to the revenue authority and passing off 59 582 containers of imports as base stations (which at the time were zero rated) to evade duty even though Econet has less than 1500 base stations in Zimbabwe.

67) He would further assert that once goods were cleared, inflated invoices were then submitted to Econet [Zimbabwe] for payment to Econet Global in Mauritius as a means of transfer pricing, money laundering and externalization for the benefit of Strive and foreign shareholders. An unfair competitive advantage as none of the other cellular networks enjoyed this benefit.

68) A few ZIMRA executives tried to sweep the allegations under the carpet but Edward confronted ZIMRA with recordings and documentary evidence that compelled Ann Mutombodzi to have him fill out whistleblower forms.

69) ZIMRA then appointed an international chartered accounting firm: HLB Zimbabwe to investigate the claims.

70) The firm wrote an incriminating report confirming that there was prima facie evidence that Econet had evaded tax to the tune of US$300mil between 2008 and 2013. They also outlined that Econet had less than 1500 base stations in Zimbabwe, which was at variance with the claim that their 59 582 imported containers were base stations or components of the same.

71) Early 2016, the ZIMRA board suspended the five executives who attempted to stall the Econet investigation, after they were implicated in a separate tax evasion scandal involving cars.

72) What makes Edward Mutambanadzo’s case compelling was for the first time in the history of Econet, the company was implicated by the testimony of a man who had perpetrated the crime on their instruction.

73) Edward Mutambanadzo’s friend [name available] also corroborated the claim by saying that in 2016 the RBZ (we are not sure if he meant ZIMRA, however the recording names RBZ) sent a letter to Edward confirming that they were going to reward him for whistleblowing on Econet because his information had turned out to be very reliable and would assist them in prosecution and recovering lost monies.

74) On receiving the confirmation letter, it is said Edward took it to his lawyers Nhemwa and Associates.

Tawanda Nyambirayi.

75) On that same day that Edward received the reward notification from the RBZ, Tawanda Nyambirayi a former Chairman and legal representative of Econet, contacted him to ask if they could meet to iron out their differences so that he would drop the case.

76) In the early morning hours of the same night, Edward Mutambanadzo died in a car accident coming from a casino.

77) How did Tawanda Nyambirayi know that Edward had received communication from the authorities on that day? What was a lawyer doing communicating directly (instead of through his lawyers) with a key witness in a criminal case involving a company he represented? Why did Tawanda want to speak with Edward if he was the dishonest, bitter and discredited witness they made him out to be in court after he died?

78) There are also various other issues of conflict of interest surrounding Tawanda Nyambirayi, Deloitte’s former CEO Tawanda Gumbo at the controversial 2004 AGM that put Econet at loggerheads with Old Mutual and the controversial appointment of Roy Chimanikire former Deloittes Partner as financial director but we won’t focus on that now.

Mthuli Ncube.

79) On the 7th of September 2018, President Mnangagwa appointed Mthuli Ncube as the new Finance Minister. Mthuli is said to be friends with Strive and one of the first tasks he undertook on assuming office was dissolving the ZIMRA board (as he announced on the 2nd of October 2018) which was investigating Econet, several of its employees and several other companies for tax evasion.

80) Early 2019, Econet published on their website that they had approached the high court of Zimbabwe to finalize the case of tax evasion in the absence of the deceased perpetrator, whistleblower and state witness Edward Mutambanadzo and an incomplete investigation by ZIMRA after the finance minister dissolved the board the previous year in October 2018.

81) 1st of March 2019 after being prompted by Econet, the Supreme Court led by judge Malaba found Econet not guilty of tax evasion, in spite of the damning report by HLB Chartered Accountants and the statements of perpetrator Edward Mutambanadzo. What we don’t understand is was this judgment based on a lack of evidence and witnesses or another example of Zimbabwean judges being beholden to the man who has been alleged to bribe judges?

82) A number of Edward’s relatives who were at the accident scene in 2016, have been in contact with us to express suspicion about the circumstances surrounding the death of Edward Mutambandzo. Many say rouge members of the intelligence services have approached them and told them to keep quiet so they are scared of speaking out in a country where Strive Masiyiwa and the criminal enterprise you are invested in have captured the arms of state, media and the Zimbabwean masses.

Econet Does Not Adhere To Corporate Governance Rules.

83) What stands out to us is that Econet has serious corporate governance shortcomings due to the company being run as Strive Masiyiwa’s outer ego, albeit, there is a conspicuous lack of shareholder oversight when it comes to these lapses in governance in the institution.

84) A case in point is the controversial 2004 AGM and Douglas Mboweni the CEO of Econet Zimbabwe recently applying for a gag order against myself and two other Zimbabweans who spoke about the above allegations of corruption.

85) The gag order application was made on behalf of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Econet South Africa Limited and Econet Global Pty Ltd without any board resolutions from any of the respective companies, despite the fact that Douglas is the CEO of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe.

86) What is ironic is the application sought to silence us from bringing to the public and shareholders attention, the recurring issues of corruption and impropriety that the high court and supreme courts in Zimbabwe declined to gag when the Finance Ministry report came out in 1999.

87) Moreover, most if not all the information we were airing is already in the public domain and now the subject of a new investigation by the Zimbabwean government in the never-ending cycle of criminality that has characterized Econet Wireless Limited from its inception.

88) Maybe, had shareholders of the company probed the persisting allegations in the Ministry of Finance report, issues raised by Edward Mutambanadzo, those in the very competent HLB auditors’ report, news reports and those our videos have been highlighting over the years, instead of turning a blind eye. It could have saved your collaborating brands the negative associations plaguing a cash cow that is quickly beginning to resemble the mob.

South African And Western Corporate Sabotage.

89) This lack of probity by shareholders such as yourselves and other such US registered companies that have remained invested in this company linked with allegations of bribery, state capture, abuse of power, money laundering and other organized crimes in contravention of the Securities Exchange Commission Act, is worrying.

90) We are also curious as to how your companies selectively invested in a company that is in a country under illegal US executive order sanctions that are accompanied by the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act), which prohibits investment, assistance and sales of technology to Zimbabwe or its companies without license from the US President? Is this company an ally of the US government and its illegal sanctions that collectively punish 17 million civilians for political ends?

91) More critically, how do your organizations get returns from a company that earns and pays dividends in Zimbabwean currency, in a country that is short of foreign currency due to these illegal sanctions, which make foreign currency to pay foreign shareholders scarce?

92) We believe that foreign institutions such as those invested in Econet have encouraged Econet to operate as a charter company in Zimbabwe and we are beginning to question the ethics of your companies that remain invested in a company that is associated with looting poor people’s pensions, mutual funds, the few savings of Zimbabweans, money laundering and tax evasion in a manner that sabotages the fragile, sanctioned Zimbabwean economy to drive more refugees into neighboring countries.

93) Looking back into history, many of us see such economic sabotage as a continuation of what South African companies and banks did when they colluded with the criminal apartheid government and their western allies to destabilize black governed SADC countries to destroy industry and foster SADC dependency on apartheid era white South African companies.

94) Today we see these same white South African companies continuing to sabotage SADC to perpetuate the apartheid economic system even though the apartheid political system has long fallen. Maybe it is fitting to ask if the apartheid political system really fell if its actors are still on the battlefield.

Standard Bank.

95) We saw this economic sabotage continue after the end of the apartheid government’s Total War during Zimbabwe’s land reform, when South African owned banks like Standard Bank’s Stanbic were suspected of money laundering and externalizing money out of Zimbabwe on behalf of white farmers and industrialists into the South African financial system.

Even though the SARB (South African Reserve Bank) is very strict on money laundering from the west into South African banks, they are selectively lax when money is being laundered from African countries into the South African banking system, as seen in cases involving Zimbabwe.

96) Standard Bank would be further implicated in the 1999 Zimbabwe Finance Ministry report for facilitating the irregular Econet IPO that is fraught with fraud.

97) In South Africa the same institution was one of the few banks to be fined for sabotaging the rand with western banks, in step with sabotaging black African progress. Just seven months ago the same bank was sanctioned R30mil by the SARB for not fully complying with global anti-money laundering regulations.

98) These acts of economic sabotage are unconscionable when considering that Zimbabwe was recently blacklisted by the EU (over and above the illegal sanctions) for not doing enough to curb money laundering in a country where your institutions have investments in a company that controls over $30bil of mobile transactions and operates as a bank without a banking license to advance money laundering.

99) Worse still this company’s directors have not adhered to their fiduciary duties, KYC, FICA, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism regulations and you as shareholders have been complicit with this derogation.

100) Why have you as institutional shareholders not raised issue with this flippant flaunting of international anti-money laundering regulations in Econet? Are your institutions the beneficiaries of the transfer pricing, illegal externalization and money laundering in Zimbabwe? Do you not understand the broader implications of this behavior on global organized crime and terrorism? And do you condone the capture of our state, justice institutions and media by Econet with your silence?

Our Intention.

We are bringing this information to your attention as stakeholders in EWL and related companies so that you can take appropriate remedial measures to reduce the negative impact Econet has had on our fragile economy.

Henceforth, we expect a letter from your companies acknowledging that you have received our communication. We also would like an outline of the remedial actions you as institutional stakeholders are going to take to address the economic sabotage, which Econet is involved in in Zimbabwe.

If we don’t receive communication from you in 7 days we intend to:

• Write letters of complaint to the Presidents, telecommunications authorities and unions of Zimbabwe, South Africa and other countries in which Econet and its appendages: Liquid Telecom and others operate to shed light on their activities.

• These will be accompanied by more letters to the US SEC, ratings agencies and financial institutions outlining the investment ethics of your institutions in such an enterprise associated with impropriety.

• We will also be lobbying regional and continental multi-lateral bodies, political parties, civil society organizations, humane media, unions and interest groups to look into this affair, in view of politicizing the remedy of these home grown charter companies that exploit our national resources while advancing purely imperialist interests on the continent, at the expense of the poor.

• This will be accompanied by a publicity campaign to alert the publics in all affected countries, of the manner in which your institutions are complicit with money laundering, state capture, fraud, impoverishment of the poor and corruption with your continued association with Econet.

Conclusion.

• We hope this has opened your eyes to facts you might not have been aware of. Econet is destroying our besieged economy through its economic sabotage, illegal activities, impunity and no one has the capacity to hold it to account except you its institutional shareholders or worst case the Zimbabwean army.

• In the last 6mths, the devaluation of our currency due to illegal forex trading has pushed inflation to over 730% in an economy in which Econet monopolizes the bulk of our financial transactions and has become the biggest conduit and participant in black market foreign currency trading for the purpose of money laundering and illegal externalization.

• From this point on, your continued partnership with this mob is now tantamount to complicity as you have been appraised and are expected to act accordingly in line with ethics, governance, international custom and risk management policies.

• It will always be difficult for a small country like Zimbabwe to successfully fight a $7 billion multi- national company backed by the biggest financiers in the world, however, that company is a public company operating on a license and resources of our nation. If need be we will mobilize to have it’s license revoked because it’s activities are contrary to public and national interest.

Thank You

Rutendo Matinyarare

Zimbabweans Unite Against US War Sanctions (ZUAUWS)