HARARE – POLICE on Saturday launched raids in Harare and Shamva to arrest a former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) deputy director over an alleged plot to topple the government, ZimLive.com has learnt.

Tadzingaira Tachiveyi, a former Deputy Director in the CIO, lost his job in a purge that followed the ouster of former President Robert Mugabe in a military coup last November.

Over a dozen police units were seen entering 75 Bargate Road in Vainona, Tachiveyi’s residence.

An associate of the former Deputy Director of Counter Intelligence said he had been arrested at his Musinje Farm in Musana, on the road to Shamva.

Details of the alleged plot against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government were not readily available, but the plot is said to involve former First Lady Grace Mugabe.

Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba was not answering calls when we tried to enquire what charges Tachiveyi was facing.

Raid … Tachiveyi’s residence in Vainona, Harare, was raided by police on Saturday morning

Last week, Simpson Rusere, a senior official in the CIO, was reportedly discharged by the spy agency over claims he was passing on sensitive intelligence information to former First Lady Grace Mugabe. Tachiveyi and Rusere are said to be related.

Tachiveyi, according to his associate, is a regular visitor to Mugabe’s Blue Roof residence in Harare.

ZimLive.com understands the raid is not connected to the investigation into a June 23 bomb attack on a Zanu PF rally at Bulawayo’s White City Stadium. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said he was a target of the bomb plot, which killed two aides of Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, and wounded dozens others.

Following that explosion, Mnangagwa said he suspected the ambitious former First Lady and Mugabe loyalists in the security establishment were being the explosion. He said it was his “hunch without facts”.

The raid on Tachiveyi’s house will spook Mugabe loyalists, who fear Mnangagwa is ready to crush his opponents.

On Friday, a former Cabinet minister in Mugabe’s government Samuel Undenge was jailed for four years for corruption. His crime was writing a letter advising ZESA to engage a PR firm without going to tender.

In early July, police reportedly went knocking on the door of former Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, another former Mugabe ally, but he was in South Africa and has not returned. Kasukuwere told ZimLive.com on Friday that he had “no issues” with authorities in Zimbabwe.

Ignatius Chombo, the former Finance Minister, filed papers at the High Court last week to halt his trial for corruption, arguing his arrest was unlawful. Perhaps in anticipation of his acquittal, police are reportedly preparing fresh unrelated charges.