‘Gun-toting’ Harare businessman opens up HARARE businessman and Solahart owner Bulukani Masola, whom NewZimbabwe reported last week as having threatened to shoot Financial Gazette journalist Philimon Mhlanga for investigating his companys alleged involvement with a ZESA metering scandal, has finally broken his silence on the allegations, insisting he was innocent. Our Reporter Nkosana Dlamini met Masola who dismissed as ‘demotion’, claims he was once body guard to the late vice president Joshua Nkomo. Dlamini relates his encounter with the businessman … I was just digesting Sunday’s coverage of the worsening MDC-T fissures when a close friend called me asking if l was prepared to meet his mdala. Probably knowing what this would evoke in me, he chose not to immediately reveal the identity of the person. I found l could no longer concentrate on the paper l was reading because of the suspense. I immediately abandoned what l was doing and went to meet him somewhere in the avenues area, coincidentally where l was at the time. I had little inkling the person he wanted me to meet was Bulukani Masola, the Harare businessman whom l reported to have threatened Financial Gazette journalist, Philimon Mhlanga and even shouted me off when l telephoned him for his comment. I first resisted the idea of meeting him, telling my friend about the unpredictable nature of the character. But after some more persuasion and guarantees he would not harm me, l joined him and in minutes, l was to come face to face with the businessman. As a cautious journalist, I had on our way to the rendezvous, intuitively took out my phone and texted my editor to alert him about my unfolding adventure and the uncertainties that lay beyond. Ordinarily, l should have had nothing to do with the businessman but as journalists, the natural greed for news can be overwhelming sometimes. Perhaps out of mischief, my friend did not inform me we had arrived at the rendezvous and l was somewhat taken by surprise when this aging, bespectacled man walked to us and gently offered his hand in greeting. This is Masola, the fiery guy that you were so afraid of, he said, letting out a somewhat sarcastic chuckle. I extended mine hesitantly, my eyes scanning his waist area for what l expected to be a pistol. There was none for once and l proceeded to scan his surroundings. There was nothing untoward either. That would mark the beginning of my own encounter with the businessman who clearly showed he had been shaken by my story and had come to grips with the potential harm the negative reportage had brought to his reputation. Perhaps sensing my discomfort, he wore a demeanour which was somewhat exaggerated with innocence, certainly one which l had difficulty in trying to match with his offhand, rather retorting reply, Ah iwe shamwari zvinhu zvaurikutaura is a lot of rubbish. If you have no story, dont bother calling me. This reply, which he had given me on the phone days before, had lasting impressions, and justifiably so. The first thing is l dont own a gun. I surrendered my last gun in 1980 when the war ended and, since then, l have never owned what may pass for a gun, said Masola, rubbing his greying chin as if to attract sympathy. The second thing is; l was never Joshua Nkomos body guard. Masola, 55, spoke in a low and cajoling tone, dragging some of his words to emphasise his points. After studying his demeanour for the few minutes l had stood with him, l began to feel a bit relaxed and started freely posing questions. Mhlanga had alleged the businessman had brandished his pistol when he went to his office seeking his response to the ZESA metering tender scandal. Mhlanga has since lodged a formal complaint with the ZRP although Masola is yet to be questioned over the allegations. Meanwhile, journalists with the Financial Gazette remonstrated with their Editor in Chief Hama Saburi, accusing him of trying to protect the businessman. Mhlanga reported the case more than two weeks after the alleged abuse, apparently after editors discouraged him from doing so. Even so, there were queries as to why the life-threatening incident never saw light in the papers pink pages, even after two issues had been published in between. Saburi has since issued a statement stating how he was shocked and appalled with the threats against our journalist, adding that as a company and as a newsroom, we are against the compromise of staff safety and security in any way by any one regardless of their standing in society, affiliations or temperament. The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) has obliged by issuing a strong condemnation of act. Masolas first port of call naturally was to seek the journalist who broke the story, so it seemed. He was apparently dismayed that our story sought to drag war veterans into the fiasco after we had identified him with the late vice president. Somebody really demoted me there, Masola said laughing off the statement, I was nobodys bodyguard, l was a senior commander within ZIPRA but l was nobodys bodyguard. I was in the military structure of Zipra and not in the political structure. We had well defined roles. But he hammered endlessly at the claim that the media deliberately tried to cast all war veterans in bad light, in the process missing out on the gains that accrued out of their sacrifices. I joined the liberation war when I was only seventeen and a half years, he stressed, It was out of my own volition. I take great pain when young journalists fail to detach the deed from a persons background. Masola, an energy entrepreneur of 20 years, denied ever threatening Mhlanga whom he said he spent 30 minutes with, trying to explain how the operations of his enterprise were detached from the ZESA tendering process. He said he would not speculate why Mhlanga would then turn around and make the sensational allegations. Masola said allegations of his involvement in corrupt ZESA deals were a creation of his competitors who were trying to halt his growing fortunes into the deal. What would be your response to sentiments suggesting that you are a fiery, gun-toting businessman, l asked and he responded, I will not be the correct person to respond to that. I think there are enough people in this country - business colleagues, professional colleagues - who know me. “It would be best to go around and ask people who have worked with me and know me. I think they would be the best people to answer that. You are asking me to give you an opinion about myself. I also asked why he became hostile when l called him the first time and he explained: You also took me by surprise. I was driving and my thoughts were very distant. “I have not had a gun since 1980 and for somebody, from the blue, to say to me that I threatened somebody ... I could not even understand where that was coming from and that was why l responded that way. That was totally strange to me.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 03:05:12 +0000