BULAWAYO – The trial of three men accused of masquerading as state security operatives while name-dropping President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son to extort a mining firm has continued, after a Bulawayo magistrate struck off one of the seven charges they were facing.
Munyaradzi Charakupa, 48, of Burnside in Bulawayo, Tawanda Mangi, 32, of Hellensville in Harare, and Victor Jaja, 49, of Toubuk Road in Harare, are jointly charged with fraud, extortion, attempted extortion and impersonating public officials.
The court acquitted the trio on count four — in which Jaja allegedly claimed to have killed four people to intimidate complainant Dumisani Dube, a lawyer — citing lack of evidence.
Prosecutors say the gang posed as officers from the President’s Department, the Police Protection Unit and Military Intelligence, threatening to cancel mining licences belonging to Dube’s clients unless he paid them. They allegedly extorted more than US$55,000 between February and August 2024.
The accused are said to have repeatedly invoked the name of Sean Mnangagwa, claiming they were acting on his behalf. Dube told investigators he travelled to Harare to meet Sean, who denied any knowledge of the gang and advised him to file a police report.
Among the charges, the three allegedly forced Dube to hand over US$40,000 on July 23 last year after producing a forged Power of Attorney purporting to make them directors of Fools Investment (Pvt) Ltd.
On another occasion, they allegedly demanded US$5,800 for “accommodation and car servicing” while on “special deployment.” In August, they are said to have posed as police officers to gain entry into Fools Mine, where they attempted to assess gold deposits.
The trial was remanded to August 22.
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