BBC News | AFRICA | Zimbabwe minister appears in court

His permanent secretary at the Ministry of Land was charged last week for alleged involvement in the same case.

Mr Kangai is the most senior figure to be questioned in connection with widespread corruption at various government bodies.

Arrests

BBC correspondent in Harare Grant Ferrett says the widely publicised arrest is a political bombshell, coming in the run-up to parliamentary elections next month.

Mr Kangai has served in the government since independence in 1980, and is one of the leading figures in the controversial land reform programme.

Over the past few weeks police investigations have resulted in the arrest of increasingly senior officials, including the permanent secretary at the Minstry of Land and his counterpart at the Ministry of Transport and Energy.

But the arrest of Mr Kangai, as a long-serving member of the cabinet, is in an entirely different league.

Presidential approval?

It is thought likely that the decision was approved by President Mugabe.

Over the past year Mr Mugabe has repeatedly referred to the problem of corruption in his government, even making a humorous reference to it at the opening of Parliament last year.

Energy Minister Enos Chikowore resigned at the end of last month, saying it was the honourable thing to do in view of severe fuel shortages.

Our correspondent says the overall impression is of a government in such a state of panic, following last month's defeat in a constitutional referendum, that it is in danger of tearing itself apart.


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