Financial Gazette (Harare)
Shame Makoshori
28 February 2008
Harare — BRITISH property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten has vowed to maintain his investments in the country despite what he alleges to be persecution by his detractors for supporting President Robert Mugabe's government.
Van Hoogstraten, who is facing charges of violating the Censorship Act and foreign exchange regulations, told The Financial Gazette that he had not fallen out with President Mugabe but had been caught up in the factional fights tearing the ruling ZANU-PF apart.
Press reports have suggested that charges against van Hoogstraten were a culmination of his fall-out with President Mugabe, whose party is embroiled in factional fighting, which recently resulted in politburo member and former finance minister Simba Makoni, breaking ranks to stand against the Zimbabwean leader as an independent candidate in elections scheduled for March 29.
"Oh yes, I have been involved (in the politics of Zimbabwe) but you know which side I am on," van Hoogstraten said.
"I'm a friend of the President (Mugabe) and (Emmerson) Mnangagwa. They are my friends and I will keep supporting them," van Hoogstraten said.
Asked to explain the reason for his arrest and consequent legal battles, van Hoogstraten said: "It is just that I have been caught up in the Makoni issue."
Makoni is linked to a ZANU-PF faction led by retired army general Solomon Mujuru, a sworn rival of van Hoogstraten's friend, Mnangagwa.
Two of the five charges van Hoogstraten initially faced were struck off the charge sheet by a Harare magistrate last week.
Van Hoogstraten owns more than 200 properties in Zimbabwe and holds significant stakes in a number of listed companies.
Giving his first Press interview since his arrest in Harare on January 24, van Hoogstraten expressed his love for Zimbabwe, saying he had built a strong relationship with President Mugabe and could not break his ties with him because of "political games".
He said his current predicament would not force him out of the country.
"I still want this country to prosper," he said.
"We want investment in this country. I'm a businessman and not a politician."
Van Hoogstraten was arrested after police had been tipped by a tenant living in one of his properties that he had been demanding rentals in foreign currency.
He was allegedly found in possession of large sums o foreign currency and pornographic material during the police raid at his home.
Police found $20 billion, US$37 586, R92 880, 190 British pounds and 180 Botswana pulas.
After failing to have charges related to the possession of pornographic material struck off the court register, van Hoogstraten last week launched a constitutional argument over violation of his rights with the magistrates court.
"The police acted like gangsters," he said in an affidavit presented in court.
"They assaulted the maid, the garden boy and the security guard. Then they assaulted me on the mouth, and I was bleeding. I sustained a cut but it has gone now."
His lawyer, George Chikumbirike, argued that the pornographic materials were illegally seized from van Hoogstraten's bedroom so they could not be used as exhibits.
"It is common cause that the search was done without a warrant," Chikumbirike said.
"The search becomes illegal and invalid. It became an arbitrary search. If they had a search warrant, they should have been authorised to search only the foreign currency and not the pictures that they took in the accused's bedroom.
"We seek the return of that property. It was illegally seized and it cannot be produced as evidence here," said Chikumbirike.
An affidavit of security guard Patrick Mpofu said the police had forced their car into van Hoogstraten's premises on the day of his arrest without identifying themselves.
"I thought they were robbers. The police did not identify themselves. They accused us of hiding a white man," Mpofu said.
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