NetOne Cellular CEO Raphael Mushanawani, 60, was granted US$500 bail on Wednesday after appearing in court over fraud allegations involving more than US$1.2 million.
Mushanawani, who is both Group CEO and Accounting Officer of the state-owned mobile operator, appeared before Harare Magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa.
The State had opposed bail, but the magistrate ruled that he was not a flight risk. As part of his bail conditions, Mushanawani must surrender his passport to the court and avoid interfering with State witnesses.
NetOne, represented by its Board Chairperson Engineer Taurayi Maurukira, is the complainant in the case.
According to prosecutors, NetOne started a procurement process in 2022 to replace its SAGE 1000 system with a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.
The board approved the tender, awarding Farevic Systems (Pvt) Ltd a US$2,422,500 contract to supply and implement the SAP system.
The State alleges that while Farevic was still working on the project, Mushanawani, allegedly with other NetOne managers yet to be arrested, devised a scheme to siphon company funds.
He is accused of misleading the Executive Management Committee and board into believing an upgrade of the SAGE 1000 system was necessary, even though it was already being phased out.
Prosecutors claim Mushanawani signed a separate contract with Lunartech Solutions (Pvt) Ltd worth US$257,600 for the supposed SAGE 1000 upgrade and later signed several addendums, pushing the total to US$1.2 million. NetOne allegedly paid Lunartech US$654,331.60 without board approval.
He is also accused of committing NetOne to a separate consultancy contract with Diztech worth US$79,467.49, for services already included in the original Farevic contract.
In total, the company is said to have suffered a loss of US$654,331.60, with a potential additional prejudice of US$625,135.89.
The case was remanded to 22 October 2025, when the court will decide whether Mushanawani should be formally placed on remand.
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