President Emmerson Mnangagwa is back in the spotlight, this time over concerns about the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), which was once called the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). Critics are saying that this fund is just a way for people with political power to get state assets at very cheap prices and sell them for huge profits. Some have even compared it to the methods used by Russian oligarchs.

Tendai Biti, a former Finance Minister, is one of the loudest critics of the Mutapa Investment Fund. He says the fund is unconstitutional, illegal, and very secretive. Biti claims that the fund was created to allow politicians and their friends to steal from the country on a large scale. “The Mutapa Investment Fund is a big problem,” Biti said in an interview with The NewsHawks. “It looks like a big asset management company that was created to take control of state-owned enterprises and other important assets illegally. The purpose is to make these assets easy to sell or trade, and it is not like a normal Sovereign Wealth Fund.”

Biti went on to explain that a typical Sovereign Wealth Fund is a state-owned investment fund. It is usually made from money earned from the government’s extra resources. These funds are set up to create wealth for both the current population and future generations. The assets of a Sovereign Wealth Fund are usually invested in stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or other investment areas. The goal is to achieve important national objectives. Biti even compared the Mutapa Fund to Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, which is worth $1.4 trillion and is the biggest in the world. According to Biti, Zimbabwe’s fund does not come close to being that kind of investment tool.

Biti also brought up Zimbabwe’s natural resources. He pointed out that Zimbabwe is very rich in gold, platinum, diamonds, chrome, and now lithium. These are valuable but non-renewable resources. This means the country has to make sure it uses them carefully, both for people living now and for future generations. Back in 2014, Biti said, Zimbabwe had created a real Sovereign Wealth Fund to collect royalties from these resources and invest the money for the future.

But according to Biti, things changed when the SWF turned into the MIF. He believes this change was made so that those in power could steal from the country more easily. He is worried that the new Mutapa Fund is just a cover for more corruption. He said, “Mnangagwa’s secretive structure is just a plan to steal from the country. Under the Mutapa Fund, we are going to see looting and corruption like never before.”

Biti is not just concerned about the way the fund works. He also thinks it is illegal. He explained that the fund was created through a presidential decree, which means the president decided on his own to make it happen without following the normal rules. Biti says this goes against the constitution, the country’s laws, and the important principle of the separation of powers. In Zimbabwe’s system of government, different branches like the president, the courts, and the legislature are supposed to keep each other in check. Biti says this fund violates that system.

As more people start talking about the Mutapa Investment Fund, one big question remains. Is this fund really designed to help Zimbabwe’s future, or is it just another way for the powerful to get richer? For now, it’s hard to say. Only time will tell if Biti’s warnings will come true or if the MIF will turn out to be something different. But one thing is for sure – the debate over the Mutapa Investment Fund is far from over.