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By A Correspondent – The leader of the pro-Mnangagwa social media group, Varakashi4ED, Wellington Mutisi, is wanted by police for allegedly defrauding several people through the sale of non-existent residential stands. Mutisi, who heads President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s online propaganda campaign and was ZANU PF’s aspiring councillor for Ward 9 in Bikita in 2023, is accused of selling a fake stand worth US$6,150 to Auxillia Tadzingwa, an accountant at Runde Rural District Council. According to Tadzingwa, who is being represented by lawyer John Makiseni of Masango Attorneys-At-Law, Mutisi sold her a 580-square-metre stand in Victoria Ranch, Masvingo, in May 2014 through his company, Noah’s Areka Housing Development. Tadzingwa said she only discovered the alleged fraud after paying a US$213 consortium fee to Masvingo Rural District Council (RDC). When she went to inspect the property, she found that another person was already constructing on the same stand. “When I asked the council why they had accepted my consortium payment when the land belonged to someone else, they referred me back to Mutisi,” said Tadzingwa. Mutisi reportedly demanded a further US$1,500 in “allocation fees” to find her another property. When Tadzingwa refused and asked for a refund, he allegedly agreed to repay her in three instalments but only returned US$100. On January 25, 2023, Mutisi wrote to Tadzingwa’s lawyer pledging to settle the balance in monthly instalments. However, according to Makiseni, Mutisi has not made any further payments and efforts to recover the funds have been fruitless. Masvingo Mirror has seen a letter written by Mutisi to Tadzingwa’s lawyer acknowledging the debt and blaming financial challenges: “We advised her that the business is low these days and that the company has no funds to refund her the full amount at once but will give her in instalments. In December we managed to pay her the sum of US$100, looking forward to paying the remaining balance in the shortest time possible,” reads part of the letter. Meanwhile, police are also pursuing Mutisi over a separate case in which he allegedly defrauded Liliosa Jakaza, a widow from Bikita, of US$1,700. He reportedly promised to secure nursing places for Jakaza’s relatives at Silveira Mission Hospital through the office of Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Ezra Chadzamira. One of Mutisi’s alleged accomplices, Thomas Wasosa (36), was arrested last week and is currently on remand. Police investigations are ongoing.
