The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has taken Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume and former Harare South Member of Parliament (MP) Shadrack Mashayamombe into custody. The high-profile arrests, which took place on Wednesday, mark a significant escalation in the country’s ongoing anti-graft campaign, particularly targeting alleged malfeasance within local government and political circles.
While ZACC is yet to formally outline the specific charges that the two prominent political figures are facing in this latest incident, the arrests come amid a period of intensified scrutiny of public officials. The anti-graft body has been clear about its mission to root out corruption, and the detention of a sitting Mayor and a former legislator signals a widening of its net. Both Mafume, a senior official in the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), and Mashayamombe, who has a long and complex history with the ruling ZANU-PF party, have consistently denied any wrongdoing in their previous encounters with the law.
Mayor Mafume’s History of Legal Scrutiny
For Mayor Mafume, the arrest is the latest in a series of legal challenges that have plagued his tenure at Town House. His name has recently featured prominently in the proceedings of a Commission of Inquiry established by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in May 2024 to investigate financial mismanagement and corruption within the City of Harare since 2017.
Testimony presented before the Commission has implicated the Mayor in a scheme to divert council revenue. Rosemary Togarepi, the General Manager of Kandrick Investments, a company leasing council-owned properties, alleged that a councillor claiming to represent Mayor Mafume demanded a stake in her company. She further claimed that this demand was followed by the halting of development at one of the leased outlets.
Furthermore, the inquiry heard that directors of Rufaro Marketing, a council-owned entity, were allegedly interfering with lease agreements and instructing tenants to divert rental payments to them. These directors, Juma Ulete and Ngoni Chimbalu, claimed they had been appointed by Mayor Mafume to collect rent from tenants “without lease agreements,” suggesting a wider, organised scheme to siphon funds away from the city council’s coffers. The allegations suggest a pattern of abuse of office and the illegal diversion of public funds, which has severely hampered the City of Harare’s ability to deliver essential services.
This is not the first time the Mayor has been arrested on corruption-related charges. In 2020, Mr Mafume was arrested and charged with criminal abuse of office for allegedly attempting to allocate residential stands to his sister, Rotina Mafume, and his law firm’s secretary in the Westlea suburb of Harare. Following that incident, he was also found guilty of breaching Section 13 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act for lying under oath during a separate investigation, demonstrating a repeated pattern of legal and ethical breaches during his time in office.
Mashayamombe’s Political and Land Controversies
The arrest of former MP Shadrack Mashayamombe adds another layer of political intrigue to ZACC’s operation. Mashayamombe, who represented Harare South, has a volatile political career, having been expelled from ZANU-PF in 2017 for alleged links to the G40 faction, only to later join the opposition MDC Alliance (now CCC). More recently, he had reportedly “bounced back” into ZANU-PF structures, but his return was short-lived. In March 2025, the ZANU-PF Harare province suspended him from the party following allegations of indiscipline and fanning factionalism.
However, the former legislator’s name is most frequently associated with allegations of illegal land dealings. During his time as a political figure in Harare South, Mashayamombe was repeatedly implicated in various land scams and the illegal sale of residential stands, often referred to as “land baron” activities. These allegations involve the irregular parcelling out of municipal and state land, a pervasive form of corruption that has seen politically connected individuals amass wealth at the expense of orderly urban development and desperate home-seekers.
The Intensified Anti-Graft Drive
The simultaneous arrests of a high-ranking opposition official and a controversial figure from the ruling party’s orbit underscore ZACC’s stated commitment to a non-partisan approach in its fight against corruption. The Commission’s intensified focus on local authorities is a direct response to the public outcry over the deteriorating state of service delivery in cities like Harare, which is widely attributed to systemic corruption and mismanagement.
The arrests signal that ZACC is prepared to pursue cases against individuals regardless of their political affiliation, focusing on the misuse of public office for private gain. As the two men await their court appearance, the public will be watching closely for the formal charges and the evidence ZACC intends to present. The outcome of these cases will be a crucial test of the country’s commitment to accountability and the rule of law.
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