Its corruption not sanctions, stupid

By Rawlings Magede

“Sometimes I have been viciously persecuted, because of my stand against corruption, at other times, I have had to wait for years, because some corrupt individual or individuals, were blocking my way. And always I prevailed, because, “faith abides” it never, ever, fails.” (Strive Masiyiwa, Econet Wireless Founder).

This startling confession by Masiyiwa comes at a time when Zimbabwe is embroiled in serious acts of corruption that have remained the major Achilles heel of Zimbabwe’s ailing economy.

It has become rare today in Zimbabwe to bump into the caliber of people such as Masiyiwa who because of their faith in God and principles continue to stand strong against this evil called corruption.

Corruption has become institutionalized and many people have embraced it in schools, crèches, colleges, passport offices, on roads, government, the list is endless.

Recently I attended a public meeting organized by Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI) that sought to unravel and discuss the contentious issue of corruption.

As has become the norm with Zimbabwean public discussions, the panelists who included representatives from political parties such as ZANU-PF, MDC-T and MDC-99, had to digress from the subject of corruption to focus merely on outclassing each other through unwarranted wits and attacks and the moderator of the discussion had a hard task bringing them back to the subject at hand.

Nothing really progressive was discussed by the panelists except for continued denial of facts by all parties as the representatives sang for their supper with gusto and passion in defending their parties in the fight against corruption even against better empirical evidence.

The subject of corruption is quite interesting in Zimbabwe in the sense that despite the cries by the public over how rampant and normal it has become, the government of the day doesn’t appear moved at all.

In fact what we have witnessed so far is cheap mere talk about “so and so” allegedly accused of doing this or that and is never followed up by any form of trial or arrest of the perpetrators. The government of the day is actually magnanimous to criminals and has from time to time pardoned and offered fortress and refuge to known criminals.

Many serious crimes involving huge sums of money paid for bribes and kickbacks have all bombarded the media at one point in time and shocked many but they were swept under the carpet and forgotten. To date, we continue to hear the same hymn on how sanctions have caused untold suffering for the common man, but there has been somewhat surreal silence over the prejudice and damage corruption has caused to millions.

Services and amenities that should have ameliorated the sufferings of many, suffered still birth because of corruption. Scandals of serious corruption that come to mind are the Willowvale scandal, The War Victims Compensation scandal (WVCF), diamond scandals, wealth accumulation by government officials, the VIP housing scandal, the National oil company scandal, ZISCO scandal, Kondozi estate scandal, ZUPCO scandal, Fertiliser scandal, constituency development fund (CDF) abuse, Harare airport scandal, interference with functions of judiciary etc.

All these cited examples typify a government that has turned itself into a conference of lily-livered opportunists united by money and greed. A cursory cross checking of facts reveal that these acts of corruption never saw the perpetrators facing any form of trial before courts or even if they did the cases were never concluded and many today continue to lead in various ministerial posts and other positions.

The reality on the ground for all to see is that these acts of greed and corruption have caused serious economic hemorrhage and meltdown and yet we continue to hear the same swan song about sanctions having caused untold suffering on the people.

Simple mathematics of all the huge sums paid in all these corruption scandals proves that our debts to IMF and World Bank would have been settled all at once and the remainder would have been used for something that betters the lives of many.

If our politicians would spend so much effort dealing with the high levels of corruption and stamping it out completely, we would have made some economic strides. Of course sanctions have played a role to crumble our economy but the biggest setback to economic development has been corruption especially at government level.

Travelling on the roads has become so costly where it has become a law to always leave a “fine” regardless of whether or not you have proper documentation. The proceeds from roadblocks are usually used for self enrichment and aggrandizement. Shockingly, the government is not disturbed to at least launch even an investigation. What we have heard are stupid justifications on the need for many roadblocks to reduce road carnage.

Only a few individuals understand why revenue from diamond sales hasn’t been fully remitted to treasury in the last few years or why the money from tollgates is not being used to develop our roads which have caused a lot of accidents that have killed many.

If you go the passport office or VID the story of having to offer someone a bribe is the order of the day.

Many working there have built businesses and houses from such ill-gotten wealth which they are very proud of. What kind of nation have we turned ourselves into? What precedence are we setting for the next generation?

The case involving Zimplats and Brainworks is something that shows how rampant and arcane these deals of corruption have become. Immunity from prosecution and trial by a few individuals have expedited corruption to crisis levels.

For example, in the deal involving Zimplasts and Brainworks, a whooping us$40 million was paid to Brainworks for preparing an “agreement” of the indigenization arrangement between Zimplats and a community ownership trust.

It remains the only world record I am aware of where US$40 million was paid for preparing a “simple agreement”.

Recently former ZMDC boss Goodwills Masimirembwa was convicted of a case involving bribery worth more than 6 million dollars and the hullabaloo around his conviction and sentence has suddenly died down even though President Mugabe exposed such serious acts of his corrupt deeds.

This has become the norm in Zimbabwe and those in the echelons of authority seem unmoved by such revelations.

That defunct and useless” thing “called Anti-Corruption Commission that was set up to deal with corruption, is even more toothless than the former Ministry of Reconciliation that even failed to “reconcile” a single person during its existence.

When it was set up, it was so lively to the extent that at one point it ordered a search at the ZMDC offices, Ministry of Youths offices although they later bowed to political muscle and pressure and stopped the search.

Corruption has become celebrated, modest and stylish even in political parties as evidenced by lack of action against looters and abusers of constituency development funds.

This has become the culture in Zimbabwe were politics has now become a lucrative “business” were even school drop outs and rank marshals sneak into to make rich pickings. The whole idea of even serving the people and developing communities has long been discarded.

As a way forward out of this quagmire, I recommend that government should adopt a zero tolerance policy on corruption, reinvestigate all cases of corruption cases in Zimbabwe which have not been concluded.

Government should also ensure that law enforcement agencies carry out their duties without fear, favour and impartiality. Public leaders or MP’s should declare their assets before taking office and all those ministers and government officials accused of corruption should be dismissed and investigated thoroughly.

In conclusion, during President Obama’s inaugural visit to Ghana he said, “Africa does not need strong leaders, it needs strong institutions”. For sure this statement is becoming even truer in Zimbabwe especially in our long, tedious and onerous fight against corruption.

Rawlings Magede is the Director of Zimbabwe Youth Development Agency (ZYDA) and writes in his personal [email protected]