Staff Reporter
A local pressure group coalescing around the monicker Rise up Zimbabwe has prepared a dossier levelling criminal charges against opposition politician and former Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
The group which is canvassing for the United Kingdom to put Biti to account for the cases raised, is also lobbying the international community to intervene saying the opposition party official has brought untold suffering to Zimbabweans for decades.
Full version of the dossier:
21 JUNE 2025
CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST TENDAI LAXTON BITI (Zimbabwean Lawyer and
Senior Opposition Party Leader)
PREAMBLE
Existence of the cartel rivalling the power of government
• In 2018, the former Prosecutor general of Zimbabwe Kumbirai Hodzi said that “a cartel made up of police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, magistrates and judges working with powerful politicians has corrupted the justice delivery system of Zimbabwe and is prepared to kill to get its way.
If you see some of the intelligence we have gathered in terms of corruption, the syndicates are so powerful that they rival the power of government” He goes on to say “we have identified the main characters that are involved. In 2020 Hodzi said that the Anti-Corruption Commission, state, media and
the Judicial Services Commission are captured by the cartel.
• In December 2022 the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission said the Country’s
judiciary was widdled with corruption.
• Report by transparency international Zimbabwe identified the court system in
Zimbabwe as a corruption hotspot.
• In their complaint letter addressed to the State President dated 26 October 2022, judges of the supreme court and high court said that they are so afraid of their jobs that they consciously and sub consciously make decisions they consider safe, even if they do not accord with the law. No supreme court judgment will be delivered without the Chief Justice’s approval.
• Various news paper reports reported of capture of members of parliament through bribery and allegations have been made that some members of the army receive bribes from the Cartel.
Formation of Rise Up Zimbabwe Pressure group
Rise Up Zimbabwe Pressure group is not a registered pressure group. It was formed by concerned citizens alarmed by the existence of a cartel that captured all institutions of the state, threatening the very foundation of democracy and the rule of law. The pressure group has more than 5 000 members who do not wish to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Main objective of the Pressure Group
The main objective of the pressure group was to find out the people who formed the cartel, when it was formed and names of cartel members. It has been determined beyond reasonable doubt that the cartel was formed by the former president of Zimbabwe Robert Gabriel
Mugabe and his cousin, Tendai Laxton Biti. The cartel operates in a mafia like style with various tentacles. It has massive resources and protects itself. It is prepared to kill. TENDAI LAXTON
BITI IS THE GOD FATHER.
WHO IS ROBERT GABRIEL MUGABE
• In 1980, Robert Gabriel Mugabe became the first Executive Prime Minister of Zimbabwe after winning the elections as the ZANU candidate.
• Soon after, it emerged that his major objective was to establish a one-party state in the country.
• In pursuit of this idea, Mugabe created an army detached from the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) known as the 5th Brigade.
• The 5th Brigade trained by the North Korean military immediately went on a brutal violent campaign in the Matabeleland region resulting in the deaths of over 20 000 perceived ZAPU supporters. ZAPU was the opposition party.
• As a result of the gruesome persecutions, the opposition ZAPU, which was Mugabe’s main target, was forced into a Unity Accord in 1987, and the accord was part of Mugabe’s aim to achieve a one-party state in Zimbabwe.
• The Unity Accord saw Mugabe being appointed President of a new political party. ZAPU was disbanded resulting in the birth of ZANU PF.
• Within the Unity Accord, Mugabe further created divisions between two major ethnic groups in Zimbabwe – the Ndebele and Shona.
• However, of interest is that Mugabe did not belong to any of these two distinct tribes in Zimbabwe.
• Mugabe’s father was Masauso Matibili, a Malawian labourer who settled in Zvimba District, Mashonaland West Province.
• In Malawi he was born Masuzyo Matibili but the white settler Native Commissioner in Mutoko could not spell it and renamed him Gabriel Matibili.
• Matibili’s father that is R.G. Mugabe’s grandfather was Chatunga. Chatunga is also Mugabe’s youngest son’s name. It is a common name among the Tumbukas in Malawi.
The name Mugabe is the name of an unrelated Mugabe who looked after R.G. Mugabe and his siblings.
• In later years, Mugabe’s government enacted a law that virtually stripped
Zimbabweans of foreign descent of their nationality unless they renounced their claim
to any foreign citizenship.
• That was meant to deny many their right to vote in general elections in 2000 because
ZANU PF feared they were going to vote for the opposition MDC.
• Mugabe has on several occasions derogatory described Zimbabweans of foreign descent as “quot;totem-less”. Ironically, he topped the list of “totem-less” Zimbabweans.
FORMATION OF THE CARTEL BY R G MUGABE AND TENDAI LAXTON BITI IN 1996
1. Tendai Biti was at the University of Zimbabwe studying Law, and was a student activist
2. Biti became Student Representative Council Secretary General in 1988-89 at the University of Zimbabwe.
3. He boasted to colleagues that he had limitless access to the University Chancellor, the then R G Mugabe
4. Biti and R G Mugabe are both of Malawian origin and believed to be cousins.
5. Biti organised a number of student strikes during which many students were arrested.
He was never arrested
6. Biti did his internship with Honey and Blanckenberg legal Practitioners. The Law firm was not easily accessible to black students at that time. One could question how a poor black student, the first one for that matter got an internship at the best legal firm in the country.
7. Biti’s academic performance as a law student was considered below average
8. Tendai Biti travelled widely during his internship and returned to the University seemingly, a rich student with a small TV and dressed in designer suits, unthinkable during that time.
9. During his student days, Biti belonged to a radical Marxist-Leninist group called Modern scientific thought’, which believed in Marxist-Leninist ideology. The group denounced capitalism and were proponents of radical land reform, dishing out antiwestern government propaganda. The group believed in a one-party state system of government, which thinking mirrored those of Former President Mugabe
10. Biti graduated in 1990 and joined Honey and Blanckenberg soon after graduation.
11. In 1991, less than a year after graduation, Biti was admitted as a partner at Honey and Blanckenberg. Very unusual.
12. The late R G Mugabe’s private legal advisers were Honey and Blanckenberg. Founding partners of the law firm are unknown.
13. Biti then became the personal Lawyer of R G Mugabe.
14. In 1996 R G Mugabe wanted to retire voluntarily and thence asked for the preparation of his retirement package.
15. R G Mugabe’s wife and Tendai Biti persuaded R G Mugabe to remain in office, and Biti promised to devise a plan that would keep R G Mugabe in office for life.
16. Biti then started planning a plot to make Mugabe a life president. The first stage was to control all pressure groups including churches through the formation of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).
17. He started holding meetings at St Luke Anglican Church in Greendale selling the idea of the formation of the NCA to churches and civic society organisations. The Archbishop of the Anglican Church, Bishop Kunonga was ordered by R G Mugabe to
assist Biti with the venue. Biti and Mugabe’s objective was to abuse the NCA to facilitate life presidency of R G Mugabe. The NCA members were thus deceived from the onset.
18. There is no doubt that the formation of the NCA was a brainchild of R G Mugabe and Tendai Biti deceiving participants of their objective.
19. The NCA incorporated various civic society organisations including the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union and its affiliates, Students organisations, various religious organisations including the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and its affiliates, Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe, Legal Resources Foundation, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Association of Women’s Clubs and other Civic Society groups. The groups have different views on national issues. One would wonder why they form a formal organisation.
20. The aim of the NCA was to help bring about the initiation of an inclusive and broadbased constitution-making process in Zimbabwe.
21. The main donor of the NCA was a Swedish Organisation.
22. During the period the NCA was formed, R G Mugabe was facing three major problems
which are listed hereunder:
• Revolt by War Veterans regarding abuse of the war victims’ compensation
fund.
• A strong ZCTU, organising national strikes.
• Proposals for a new Constitution with a limited term of office.
23. R G Mugabe solved the war veterans’ problem by paying them a gratuity of $50 000 per person. This money was unbudgeted for, and it therefore caused a sharp rise in inflation. This made ZCTU stronger due to an aggrieved national labour force due to a severe erosion of their buying power, thus this caused the ZCTU to organise periodic Strikes.
24. Biti and R.G. schemed to manipulate the NCA to spearhead the formation of a political Party, the Movement for Democratic Change led by the ZCTU to offset the growing muscle of the ZCTU. This literally destroyed the power of the labour movement and thus solved R G Mugabe’s second problem (that of a strong ZCTU).
25. On 21 May 1999, R G Mugabe appointed a Constitutional Commission chaired by Chief Justice Chidyausiku to come up with a draft constitution that would be subjected to a referendum. This was to solve problem three.
26. The three main issues raised by people on the outreach programs were:
• That the Lancaster House Constitution granted excessive powers to the
President which should be curtailed
• That the Presidential term should be limited to only two 5-year terms.
• Curtailing powers of the executive President.
27. To override these problems, Biti and Mugabe used their MDC project to reject the draft constitution.
28. This party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was formed on 11 September 1999.
29. The Constitutional Commission completed their draft which included the clause on the limited term of office of the President and limited Presidential powers.
30. As part of the scheme and on advice from Tendai Biti, R.G Mugabe inserted in the final draft a clause on the compulsory acquisition of land from white farmers without compensation from the Zimbabwean Government. This amended draft was passed
through Parliament.
31. The NCA held a meeting at the Zimbabwe Women’s Bureau to consider whether to accept the amended constitution. It was agreed in this meeting that the NCA should support the amended draft constitution as it was far better than the existing Lancaster House constitution. Central to the decision was the limited term of office of the President which ensured that RG Mugabe would leave office at most in 2010 even if he won elections in 2000 and 2005.
The land clause affected 4300 white farmers, and this was to be weighed against what was good for the entire country of over 15 million people. The meeting therefore agreed to support the adoption of the draft constitution.
32. The amended draft was subjected to a referendum in 2000, Biti through the MDC campaigned for the rejection of the draft Constitution. The draft was rejected at the referendum thereby solving R G Mugabe’s problem of a limited term of office (which he didn’t want).
The rejection of the draft constitution with a limited term of office meant that R G Mugabe was to revert to the Lancaster House Constitution which allowed him Life Presidency with excessive Presidential powers. This could not be what most of the people of Zimbabwe wanted.
33. The white farmers supported the rejection of the draft Constitution at the cunning
advice of Biti in the mistaken belief that they were protecting their land. Subsequent
events were to prove them wrong.
34. Biti formed the MDC for nefarious purposes, these are:
• Blocking entry of new genuine opposition parties
• Rejection of the draft Constitution which would have removed R G Mugabe
from office in 2010.
• Destroying an effective labour movement.
• Playing a key role in the rigging of future elections to prevent opposition parties from winning the Presidency.
FORMATION OF THE CARTEL AS IT EXISTS TODAY.
Following the successful rejection of the draft Constitution resulting in the anointment of Mugabe as life president the R.G. Mugabe and Tendai Biti partnership resulted in the formation of a shadowy cartel with numerous networks. The cartel embarked on a lawlessness spree.
It started using people in state institutions to loot sate funds brazenly through forming unconstitutional entities. Its overall objective was to deliberately impoverish the people of Zimbabwe using a philosophy that poor people are easier to manage. They can be managed easily by a few elite using bribes.
ORGANISATIONS FORMED FOR LOOTING PURPOSES BY THE CARTEL
1. Command agriculture; Cronies were given fake loans to buy farming machinery such as tractors. Loans running into billions of US dollars were never paid.
2. Presidential schemes example goat scheme. The schemes are for looting purposes.
3. Opening offshore accounts purportedly for the army yet it is for looting minerals especially diamonds.
4. Through Biti, Mugabe forced out seven diamond companies from the rich Marange diamond fields. No reasons were proffered and since then no reports on how the minerals are being mined and processed.
ECONOMIC SANCTIONS IMPOSED ON ZIMBABWE BY USA.
Biti was instrumental in the drafting of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act
(ZIDERA). ZIDERA is a USA law enacted in 2001 that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. It aimed to promote democracy and economic recovery in the country, but its effect has been to limit Zimbabwe’s access to international financial assistance.
Biti and Mugabe needed sanctions to use as a scape goat for the economic meltdown caused by their looting of national resources.
DESTRUCTION OF THE ZIMBABWEAN CURRENCY THROUGH PRINTING
In 2004 the Biti Cartel engineered the free fall of the Zimbabwean currency through printing
local currency and used the local currency to mop up U.S. dollars in circulation. It was not by
accident but by design. This resulted in grand looting wiping out pensions of the ordinary,
their savings and life policies were made worthless. This was a deliberate plot by the cartel so that the cartel increases its controls over the people. They bribe a few who are amassing billions of dollars while the majority is suffering as jobs are cut and companies close.
USE OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE SINCE 2000 AS A WAY OF DESTROYING THE ECONOMY AND
KEEPING MUGABE IN POWER
In the draft constitution presented to R.G. Mugabe by the Chidyausiku commission, the people of Zimbabwe did not consider land as a constitutional issue. People believed in an orderly redistribution of land to address past imbalances. Tendai Biti and Mugabe both who happen to be of Malawian origin, inserted the Land clause in the draft constitution for nefarious purposes. They wanted Mugabe to remain in power until he handed over to Biti in 2018.
The Cartel used the rejection of the draft constitution which the cartel schemed to achieve as an excuse to embark on an orgy of violence killing white farmers and opposition party supporters.
They deliberately destroyed commercial farming, a strong arm of the economy. This advanced the cartel’s project of increasing poverty. Biti is the architect of terror during elections.
Rural voters are forced to vote for Zanu PF against their will. He is the one who advocated for polling station-based voting. In rural areas names of those voting at a particular polling station are known. Voters are threatened with various forms of punishment if they do not vote as instructed.
Decent human beings may find it difficult to believe that some people can sink as low as Tendai Laxton Biti has done. We must however spare our thoughtsfor innocent victims who were killed. Their families need justice.
CRIMINAL CASES AGAINST TENDAI LAXTON BITI
Rise Up Zimbabwe Pressure group believe that Tendai Laxton Biti must be charged with criminal conduct in that:
1. Embezzlement of donor funds.
All the money given to Tendai Laxton Biti by the donor community in whatever form or manner was used by Tendai Laxton Biti to achieve objectives different to those the money was given for. He used the money and goodwill from the donors to advance criminal activities which are causing untold suffering to millions of Zimbabweans.
2. Accomplice to the murder of 28 White Commercial farmers in Zimbabwe between (2000-2014).
The following farmers were killed as a result of the scheme devised by Tendai Laxton Biti and R. G. Mugabe as detailed above.
• David Stevens – killed April 15, 2000 (Macheke) (nehandaradio.com)
• Martin Olds – April 18, 2000, near Nyamandlovu (nehandaradio.com)
• Allan Stewart Dunn – May 7,2000 (poliiticsweb.co.za)
• John Weeks – May 14,2000 at Seke (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Tony Oates – May 31, 2000 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Willem Botha – July 23, 2000(poliiticsweb.co.za)
• Henry Swan Elsworth – December 12,2000 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Gloria Olds – March 4,2001(mother of Martin Olds) (politicsweb.co.za)
• Robert Fenwick Cobbet -August 6, 2001 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Terrence (Terry) Ford – March 18,2002 (theguardian.com)
• Thomas Samson Bayley – May 1 ,2002 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Charles Anderson – June 2,2002 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Pieter Silverton – January 2004 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Ole Sunde – February 6, 2005 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Donald Stewart – November 26, 2005 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Phillip Tenant – April 1, 2006 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Lary Austen – November 17 ,2008 (politicsweb.co.za)
• Bob Vaughan Evans – July 7 ,2009 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Ray Van Rensburg – July 16, 2009 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Sophia Hart – August 29,2009 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Kobus Joubert – October 26,2010 (potiticsweb.co.za)
• Lourens Abrams Korsten – February 28,2011 (assaulted Dec 31, 2010)
(potiticsweb.co.za)
• Mike Campbell – April 6,2011 (politicsweb.co.za)
• Colin Zietsman – September 2,2011 (politicsweb.co.za)
• Keith Nicholson – September 14,2011 (potiticsweb.co.za)
3. ACCOMPLICE IN THE MURDER OF SIX UNARMED CIVILIANS SHOT AND KILLED BY THE ARMY ON AUGUST 1, 2018
• Challenge Tauro (20)
• Jealous Chikandira (21)
• Brian Zhuwawo (26)
• Ishmael Kumire (41)
• Gavin-Dean Charles (45)
• Sylvia Maphosa (53) (thenewshawks.com)
4. ACCOMPLICE IN THE MURDER OF 33 MDC ACTIVITS KILLED (2001-2010) 2001-2002: Post Election Violence
• Bernard Gara (Bikita West,Jan 1 2001)
• Ndonga Mupesa, Robson Chirima, Peter Mataruse (Muzarabani, March 2001)
• Richard Chikwenya (Buhera North, May 1 2001),
• Misheck Mwanza (Zvimba North May 4 2001)
• James Nyika, John Manomera (Hatfield Harare, July2001)
• Jojn Chakwenya (Epworth, July 2 ,2001)
• Gilson Gwenzi (Mwenezi July, 27, 2001)
2007
• Gift Tandare – Gunned down or beaten by police (October 16, 2007)
2008 OPERATION MAVHOTERA PAPI
• Tonderai Ndira Abducted 13-22 May 2008, tortured and killed
• Archford Chipiyo, Ngoni Knight, Yona Gent (Chitungwiza June 18 2008)
• Gibbs Chironga- MDC councillor, shot and killed June 20 (2008)
• Abgail Chiroto Wife of MDC councillor, abducted June 16, 2008, found dead on a farm.
• Tapiwa Mumbwanda, Murunde Tembo, Tatenda Chibika, Moses Bashitiwayo, Moses
Makiwa, Brighton Mbwera Jr, (aged 5)- discovered in April 2008 in Mashonaland
Provinces.
• Shepherd Cheu, Headmaster Katsukunya Primary School Mutoko abducted tortured
and killed 3 June 2008 (https:www.facebook.com/share)
April-May 2008 Additional cases in Chiweshe/Mt Darwin
• Michael Dube (Shurungwi, May 1)
• Tapiwa Meda, Alex Chiriseri, Joseph Madzuramhende (Chiweshe, May 5)
• Crispen Taero (Mt Darwin, April)
• Biggie Zhuwawo, Chrispen Chiutsi, Tatenda Chabika, Tapiwa Mbwanda various rural
locations, April-May 2008 (thezimbabwean.co)
Many other murders went undocumented. Property was destroyed.
THE PRESSURE GROUP, THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE AND FAMILIES OF THOSE MURDERED AS A RESULT OF BITI’S CONDUCT DEMAND JUSTICE.
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