Elias Musakwa
Elias Musakwa is a Zimbabwean musician and politician. In March 2018 Musakwa appeared on the list of externalised funds list released by the President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Looters Names Released: Full List By Mnangagwa He acquired Gramma Records together with the late former air marshal, Josiah Tungamirai. His musical empire incorporates Ngaavongwe Records (formerly Gramma), Mosi-a-Tunya Studios, Shed Studios and the Zimbabwe Music Corporation.He is believed to have assisted the likes of Fungisai Zvakavapano He joined active politics in 2007 after resigning from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) where he was a divisional head. On three occasions, Musakwa failed to represent the people of Bikita West on a ZANU-PF ticket. His first attempt was in 2008 when, after pulling through Zanu-PF primaries, he lost to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T)’s Heya Shoko by a small margin. Shoko narrowly won the seat by 19 votes, having polled 7 048 votes against Musakwa’s 7 029. His second attempt came in 2013 when he battled a fellow banker, Munyaradzi Kereke, in the ZANU-PF primary elections. Despite losing to Kereke in the primaries, Zanu-PF asked Kereke to step aside since he had a pending rape case, but the former advisor to the then RBZ governor Gideon Gono defied the directive. Somehow, Kereke managed to get his nomination papers signed by ZANU-PF officials in the province for him to stand in the general elections. This led to the subsequent suspension of the then ZANU-PF Masvingo provincial chairman, Lovemore Matuke, and secretary for administration, Edmund Mhere. For going against the party’s orders, Kereke was dismissed from ZANU-PF, but still that could not break his resolve to represent Bikita West in the National Assembly. Kereke went on to face Musakwa in the main 2013 polls, winning the election by 1 218 votes. After Kereke was expelled from Parliament following his conviction and subsequent imprisonment on rape charges, Musakwa got another shot to represent Bikita West but lost in the ZANU-PF primaries to Beauty Chabaya who polled 1 423 votes against his 540 votes. Musakwa had to go through rigorous vetting after he was initially disqualified from the race over his alleged links to Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) party. His campaign team alleged vote rigging, and wanted a re-run of the primary poll.
Gospel
