NetOne Chief Executive Raphael Mushanawani is reportedly the victim of an internal power struggle, with his lawyers claiming that his arrest on US$1.2 million fraud allegations was orchestrated by rivals who are leveraging political influence to force his ouster.
His lawyers have deemed his arrest and detention unlawful and are demanding his immediate release.
In a letter dated September 30 2025 to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), Mushanawani’s lawyer, Admire Rubaya, asserted that his client was arrested not for wrongdoing, but for “doing things right” at the company.
Rubaya described Mushanawani as a victim of a well-orchestrated ploy designed to force his ouster from NetOne.
They claim his detractors misled ZACC, as everything Mushanawani is accused of was above board and had NetOne board approval. This directly challenges the allegations that he corruptly hired firms to manage systems without the board’s consent.
“There are certain individuals who are targeting his post who have approached you (ZACC) on the basis of name dropping very powerful individuals who sit in the high echelons of power and policts in this country yet there is no involvement of any such political figures.
The grand plan is for these instigators to take over as the people at the helm of Netone,” read part of the letter.
Allegations against Mushanawani stem from a 2022 contract to replace NetOne’s outdated SAGE 1000 system with a new US$3.5 million ERP system.
ZACC claims that while this project was ongoing, Mushanawani secretly hired a second company, Lunartech Solutions to upgrade the old SAGE 1000 system, bypassing board and committee approval.
His lawyers said all this is fabricated as evidence on the ground shows that everything had board approval, attaching documents to support their claims.
“Our client is at a loss as to why he finds himself languishing in police custody over an issue which exposes your officers’ lack of understanding of IT Systems.
“It should have been clear to your officers that the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning System, which Netone Cellular (Pvt) Ltd[herein after called Netone] contracted Farevic Systems (Pvt) Ltd to supply and implement, is totally different from the SAGE 1000 or SAGE L200.
“It is common cause that Netone has been using the SAGE 1000 System to manage its core business operations. That SAGE 1000 System product had reached the end-of-sale stage, wherein SAGE South Africa communicated to Netone that there was not going to be any maintenance and support on the SAGE ERP 1000 beyond the 31st of December 2024.
Mushanawani’s lawyers countered that the SAGE upgrade was necessary and board-approved. They argued its continued, unsupported use after December 31, 2024, with expired licenses, represented a major business risk to NetOne.
“Contrary to your claims, the upgrading of the SAGE ERP 1000 to SAGE L200 was imperative as it was a viable alternative wherein SAGE South Africa would provide vendor maintenance and support. This was key and had been approved by the board, and even when the Strategic Plan for 2025 was approved, there was a clear understanding that there was a need to modernise the Technology Infrastructure. Thus, our client is lost when you allege that there was no Board authority,” the letter reads.
Mushanawani’s lawyers assert that since the new ERP system is not yet operational, upgrading the old SAGE system was necessary and required the two to run parallel. They maintained the upgrade was critical for NetOne to prevent hacking and income loss. The defense also disputes the US$1.2 million claim for two additional upgrade contract addendums.
“This is false, and you are challenged to provide such evidence. For your information, the only payments which have been made thus far are for US$184,800 and US$88,002.57,” the letter says.
The letter further claims ZACC was misled into believing Mushanawani unlawfully signed a US$79,467 contract with Diztech (Pvt) Ltd for consultancy training services.
“For the record, there is no contract that was signed between Diztech (Pvt) Ltd and Netone as alleged, neither has there been any payment of even a dime to Diztech (Pvt) Ltd from Netone relating to consultancy and training services connected to SAGE L200, since no such services were ever provided by Diztech (Pvt) Ltd,” read part of the latter.
