Former champion U.S. boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is in Zimbabwe to promote the sport a year after making a similar trip to Nigeria. But in Zimbabwe, Mayweather also appears to be supporting the ruling Zanu-PF party for August elections.
Mayweather's private white jet landed Thursday in Zimbabwe, where he was welcomed and joined in dancing to African drums. The American former champion boxer told waiting reporters he was excited to be in Zimbabwe and back in Africa after his first trip to the continent in Nigeria a year ago.
"It is always great to come back to Africa. The motherland, a beautiful place, beautiful people, coming back to see my people. They embrace me with open hearts," he said.
Like his visit to Nigeria, Mayweather's trip to Zimbabwe was billed as promoting the sport of boxing. But his Zimbabwe trip is not without controversy.
Mayweather attended a political rally Thursday for the ruling Zanu-PF party, which critics accuse of using authoritarian tactics against opponents and mismanaging the struggling economy.
The 46-year-old former boxer is being hosted by Scott Sakupwanya, a controversial gold dealer who is running for parliament in next month's elections on the Zanu-PF ticket.
Sakupwanya in April was named in an Al Jazeera investigative documentary, "The Gold Mafia," that exposed a gold smuggling and money laundering ring involving top officials. A convicted gold smuggler in the documentary named Sakupwanya as Zimbabwe's "biggest gold guy," to which he has not responded.
Zimbabwe's central bank froze the assets of four men named in the documentary, and the government says it is investigating the allegations.
Sakupwanya welcomed Mayweather to the Zanu-PF rally in Mabvuku, the Harare suburb where he is running for office.
"[Mayweather] is happy to be here, and wants to come again. He told me that people in America do not really know what is happening here," Sakupwanya said. "He did not even bring his security details because he knows [Zimbabwe] is a peaceful country. He says this shows that foreigners shouldn't talk about Zimbabwe before they come here, and they must leave politics where it's not necessary."
Sakupwanya gained public attention in 2020 when photos of him surfaced on social media posing with gold bars and millions of dollars in cash.
Some social media posts criticized Sakupwanya for campaigning with Mayweather, who is also known for flashing wealth, when most Zimbabweans are living in poverty.
Tendai Biti, vice president of the main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change, said: "It's obscene, it's immoral and it shows the wrong priorities of Zanu-PF. I hope the residents of Mabvuku are wise enough and will vote for a right candidate in the plebiscite to be held on August 23, 2023."
Biti said Mayweather should be ashamed for becoming an implicit part of alleged illicit financial flows.
When called by VOA, a designated media team for Mayweather and Sakupwanya refused to comment on the issue.
The American former boxer is expected to fly to South Africa on Friday, and then return Sunday to visit Victoria Falls on Zimbabwe's border with Zambia before returning to the U.S.
