The president has accused Strive Masiyiwa’s company of money laundering
Zimbabwean Strive Masiyiwa, the founder Econet. Picture: SUNDAY TIMES
The battle pits Mnangagwa, who came to power in a November 2017 coup, against Strive Masiyiwa, the business person who founded and controls Econet. The company’s mobile-money unit Ecocash has 11.4-million customers and a 98% share of the market. Its platform is used for everything from buying household furniture to paying public-transport fares.
The 59-year-old business person and philanthropist has been a frequent critic of the government. At the same time, he’s appealed for aid to help Zimbabwe fight the coronavirus pandemic.Ecocash is accused by the government of turning a blind eye to the use of its platform to fuel black-market currency trading.
A search and seizure warrant filed by the police aims to allow them to examine Ecocash’s subscriber list and transactions.“Independent investigations so far have also confirmed government allegations,” said Nick Mangwana, the government spokesperson. “Implementation of a full set of regulatory reforms will even bring down the rate and prices to a much more realistic level which responds to economic fundamentals and not whimsical creation of digital money by some platforms.
A complete shutdown of Ecocash could have dire consequences for the economy. About 7-million transactions from 2-million users were handled daily on its platform before the shutdown.
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