By Farai D Hove| The man of the moment and the man who secretly assisted president Emmerson mnangagwa to escape and hide in South Africa, the Gwanda born businessman, Justice Maphosa, has said he is being persecuted for assisting Zimbabwe’s head of state.

Between the 7th and 8th of November last year, Maphosa assisted the then vice-president to sneak into South Africa and hide there until the time of the coup.

Soon after those dramatic events, reports swirled that Maphosa has been tried for tax fraud. The police investigations and trial had however happened years before.

But Maphosa told VOA he is being punished because he helped Mnangagwa when he escaped from his former boss and predecessor Robert Mugabe.

Maphosa is being investigated by the Hawks for allegedly committing a multimillion-rand fraud in the North West. He said: “I’m sure you can see from my security detail … You can see how many security people I am with and you can see how many security people I travel with …

“There are people that seem to say we are going to disturb their businesses and people are fighting us. Why am I not being arrested if there is a case to answer. Surely we are a law abiding country.

“If I have done anything wrong I should be arrested and I should be taken to court to be tried. It is a narrative and an effort of my detractors that say ‘we don’t want him to achieve this. We don’t want him to do this.”

Maphosa did not explain the connection between his earlier charges and President Mnangagwa which go back as far as 2013.