By Farayi Machamire
President Robert Mugabe’s move to retain graft-accused permanent secretaries in his latest reshuffle makes a mockery of government’s anti-corruption claims, Zanu PF Harare East legislator Terrence Mukupe has said.
Mukupe led a large cross-section of Zimbabweans in condemning his boss’ re-deployment of Mines ministry permanent secretary Francis Gudyanga to the Higher and Tertiary Education portfolio, in a move that flies in the face of calls by the Daniel Shumba-led Parliament committee to sack the scandal-ridden bureaucrat.
On the other hand, ex-Transport ministry secretary Munesushe Munodawafa — who has been on remand for over a year after he was arrested for illegally ordering Air Zimbabwe (Air Zim) to pay Navistar Insurance Brokers $305 000 — succeeded Gudyanga.
Munodawafa is facing two counts of criminal abuse of office.
On one of the counts, he was accused of directing the national airline to lease a plane from South Africa without going to tender and ordering Air Zim to pay an associate of his a finder’s fee of $10 200 per month.
He leaves behind an Air Zim currently saddled with a $300 million-plus debt.
Mukupe posted on his Facebook page: “I for one do believe that if we are to progress as a country we need to set up term limits for the perm secs (permanent secretaries)…. We need new faces with energy and new progressive ideas”.
“I must say Munodawafa, with all the scandals that have followed him, is one very lucky guy… And the jury is still out there for Prof Gudyanga,” he said.
“As for…Sibanda (Desire Sibanda who replaced George Magosvongwe as the permanent secretary of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment ministry), one of the greatest minds I’ve ever interacted with… It’s really a waste to put him in the Youth ministry,” Mukupe concluded.
MDC vice president Nelson Chamisa weighed in saying Zimbabwe’s rot did not need a rocket scientist or witch doctor to decipher, adding any ordinary Zimbabwean can see that bad governance has driven the country to the verge of collapse.
“Things are difficult in Zimbabwe not because of bad luck but bad governance,” he said.
People’s Democratic Party spokesperson Jacob Mafume wondered why individuals were not being replaced with those with clean records.
“It’s like rearranging furniture on the sinking titanic or like changing drivers on a bus without wheels,” he said. Daily News
