HARARE, Zimbabwe – Raphael Mushanawani, the chief executive officer of NetOne, was arrested on Monday by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) over allegations of fraud exceeding US$1.2 million.
The charges relate to NetOne’s 2022 decision to replace its outdated SAGE 1000 accounting system with a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform provided by Farevic Systems under a US$3.5 million contract.
Despite the transition being in progress, Mushanawani — allegedly in collusion with NetOne’s finance executive Christopher Muchechemera — contracted Lunartech Solutions to upgrade the soon-to-be-discarded SAGE 1000 system at a cost of US$257,600.
ZACC investigators say Mushanawani went further by signing two more addendums with Lunartech, inflating the cost of upgrades to over US$1.2 million.
In a separate deal, Mushanawani is accused of unilaterally contracting Diztech, paying US$79,467 for training and consultancy services that were already included in the Farevic Systems contract.
Crucially, all these decisions were allegedly made without the knowledge or approval of NetOne’s executive committee or board of directors.
Mushanawani is expected to appear before the Harare Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, where he will face formal charges.
ZACC has vowed to continue investigations into corporate governance violations within state enterprises.
