HARARE – Former transport minister Jorum Gumbo, due before magistrates on Tuesday to be charged with corruption, was freed after the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) said it was investigating fresh allegations.

Gumbo, now the Minister of State in the President’s Office in Charge of Implementation and Monitoring, was due to be charged with four counts of criminal abuse of office before his court appearance was aborted.

ZACC later said it was investigating fresh new corruption allegations against the minister, and would consolidate the charges before he is summoned to appear in court.

His lawyer Selby Hwacha said: “He has been freed and is now home. No charges have been laid against him.”

Gumbo faces charges relating to his time as transport minister.

He became the second minister to be arrested in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s anti-corruption fight after former tourism minister, Prisca Mupfumira.

According to charges prepared by ZACC, Gumbo was arrested over a prejudice of US$1 million towards the renting and renovation of a house belonging to his niece, Mavis Gumbo, in Harare’s leafy Chishawasha suburb.

The property was used as the headquarters of Zimbabwe Airways, the ill-fated state airline which would have replaced Air Zimbabwe. ZACC says Gumbo corruptly picked the property for the airline.

Gumbo is also accused of abusing his position by forcing the re-appointment of former CMED managing director Davison Mhaka after the official was found guilty of corruption and fired by a tribunal.

ZACC said the government had suffered total losses to the tune of $3.7 million.

Gumbo’s arrest comes as critics accuse President Emmerson Mnangagwa of lacking the drive to carry out the political reforms needed to help Zimbabwe recover from its worst economic crisis in a decade.

The ZACC, which Mnangagwa appointed in July, says it is on a drive to bring corrupt officials to account. In July, tourism minister Prisca Mupfumiraa was charged with corruptly misusing US$95 million from the state pension fund, NSSA.

When Mnangagwa took over as leader after the late Robert Mugabe was ousted in 2017, he promised to stamp out the graft that had become endemic under his predecessor.

Although some Mugabe-era ministers have been arrested for corruption, they are free on bail while their cases are stuck in courts, frustrating citizens who feel that officials can use their influence to escape punishment.