Spare us the drama, Mr President!

Opinion by Luke Tamborinyoka

Last week, President Robert Mugabe went a notch higher in a desperate attempt to re-brand himself when he used a luncheon after the official opening of Parliament to launch a seemingly spirited campaign against corruption. 

Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa was to be the sacrificial lamb in the latest laughable pretence against corruption.

At the luncheon, Mugabe, who has presided over one of the most corrupt governments in Africa, began a re-branding campaign as a true statesman who has a strong position against ills such as graft, avarice and corruption.

Ironically, his 33-year tenure in office is replete with the most obnoxious examples of corrupt practices that he did absolutely nothing about before he suddenly found his voice last week after almost three and a half decades in office.

Let’s get down to the facts.

Some of Mugabe’s Cabinet ministers, including a few he reappointed for the umpteenth time only last week, are on record as having stated that they were over 100 percent disabled as a ploy to loot the war Victims Compensation Fund.

I do not want to get into the details of what was said by senior officials in terms of their war injuries when they got their loot from the fund, which was one of the many feeding troughs the Zanu PF elite has enjoyed over the years.

This is not to mention the Willowgate scandal.

Despite having a so-called Leadership Code in place, Zanu PF chefs in the late 1980s abused a car loan facility and resold the vehicles for high profit.

Mugabe never fired anyone for this vice, except one Maurice Nyagumbo who fired himself not only from government but also from this earth when he committed suicide in shame.

Are we now to believe that Mugabe has suddenly found his voice to speak on corruption that has been a major trait that has blighted his regime over the years?

Is there a catch somewhere?

Is he addressing legacy issues, so that history will at least say he did something about corruption, albeit in his twilight years?

But the sacrificial lamb, Masimirembwa, is a far much small player than the main characters we have known in this corruption game!

Zimbabweans know that top government officials became multiple farm owners after a supposedly successful land reform exercise meant to benefit the ordinary Zimbabwean, not to mention the number of farms Mugabe himself has personally acquired for his family.

We also still remember, by the way, the VIP Housing scheme and how it sucked in the first family, not to mention Obert Mpofu who Mugabe implied was an honest minister who was unaware of the many shenanigans surrounding the country’s diamonds, particularly in the latest saga.

But this is the same Mpofu who, as minister of Mines and with a monthly salary of about $800, managed to buy a stake in a bank for around $35 million.

In a country with a leadership that is really serious about corruption, he would long have been investigated on how he managed to raise the millions with such a salary.

Tendai Biti, as Finance minister and Morgan Tsvangirai, as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, have had meetings with the president and Mpofu himself over the non-remittance of billions of diamond revenue to Treasury.

Nothing was done.

But now the president is suddenly serious about the issue of corruption in the diamond industry as if he has just heard it for the first time. We are talking here of three Cabinet ministers belonging to Mugabe’s political party, three ministers he recently reappointed.

Savior Kasukuwere, Nicholas Goche and Mpofu were protected by the police who prevented the Anti- Corruption Commission from searching the three ministers’ offices.

If the three had nothing to hide, they ought to have allowed the Commission to execute its Constitutional mandate and absolve them of any crime. Now the president wants to tell us that his government, particularly his party to which the three ministers belong, is now serious about dealing with graft.

Spare us the drama, Mr President!Give us a break!

The simple truth is that Mugabe cannot lecture us on corruption which has been a major affliction of his party in government over the years. If he is to catch all the culprits involved in stealing diamonds, will there still be a Cabinet left, let alone a party called Zanu PF?

But there is a world of difference between Robert Mugabe and one Morgan Tsvangirai, who fired an entire council for corruption in Chitungwiza. The councillors were protected by Ignatius Chombo, the Zanu PF minister of Local Government who allowed them to stay but they were no longer MDC members.

It is a simple tale of two different leaders, qualitatively.

Believing that Zanu PF is serious about fighting corruption is like believing that mosquitoes will lead the anti-malaria crusade.

So please, spare us the drama, Mr President!

*Tamborinyoka is spokesperson to MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai. He writes in his personal capacity. He can be contacted at [email protected]