HARARE – Zimbabwe central bank governor Gideon Gono has withdrawn recommendations to President Robert Mugabe that the veteran leader reverses the seizure of private firm, SMM Holdings, by the government.

SMM Holdings, owned by Zimbabwean-born South African businessman Mutumwa Mawere, was taken over by the government in 2004 after allegedly failing to pay back money owed to the state, while Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa ordered Mawere specified.

But Gono in July wrote to Mugabe advising the President that the seizure of SMM was unjust and illegal and that the conglomerate, which operates one of the biggest asbestos manufacturing plants in Africa and has interests in various sectors of Zimbabwe’s economy, should be returned to its owner.

However in a fresh twist to the long-running SMM saga, Gono last month wrote to Chinamasa apologising for his advice to Mugabe which he said was defective because he had acted without full information or details pertaining to the case.

Gono accuses Mawere of giving him half-backed information and claims he was deeply “embarrassed” on getting to learn the full details of the SMM saga when he later met Mugabe, Chinamasa and the troubled firm’s state appointed administrator, Arafas Gwaradzimba.

“I confirm that independent of informed input from the administrator of SMM or the Minister of Justice …. I prepared (an advisory) to the Head of State,” Gono wrote in the letter to Chinamasa on August 21.

“Following these vital consultations, I confirmed, as I do now, that my advisory briefs to His Excellency has been answered by the administrator and Minister (Chinamasa) in front of the Head of State and that I had no other role to play in the case,” Gono wrote in the letter to Chinamasa on August 21.

He added: “This thus brought to an end my advisory role and withdrawal of my advisory notes which were then returned to the bank because all the matters that had been raised, have been explained or were to be attended to or would have been raised out of ignorance emanating.”

Both Gono and Chinamasa were not immediately available for comment on the mater and so was Mawere.

But speculation was rife in Harare that Gono acted under pressure from Chinamasa who it is alleged is working with powerful Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to ensure Mawere loses his properties.

Mnangagwa and Mawere were once viewed within Zimbabwe’s political and business circles as very close associates and it is widely speculated that the SMM owner’s troubles began with his fallout with the powerful defence minister.

Mawere -- acknowledged even by his enemies as one of the sharpest business brains to emerge out of Zimbabwe -- lives in South Africa where he has built another business empire.

By Zimonline