Greediness killing our economy

 Recent developments in the Zimbabwe economy have just confirmed what most people have suspected all along; greediness is at the centre of our problems.

Ever since new Finance minister Mthuli Ncube announced his new monetary policy earlier this month, the economy has been on a free fall.

With the economy regressing with each passing day, most people have now found it difficult to make ends meet.

The corruption and greediness happening at the top echelons of public office is now cascading down to the shop floor. Due to the fuel crisis, service station attends have also taken the opportunity to earn a few more extra dollars by exploiting motorists.

When fuel is delivered to a service station, some of the staff members are now withholding some of the precious liquid while some motorists go home empty handed.

The remaining fuel is then sold nicodemously to their friends and cronies in the middle of the night.

The same thing is also happening in supermarkets where basic commodities like cooking oil, sweetened beverages, sugar and bread have disappeared from the shelves.

Suppliers and manufacturers are making deliveries to most shops but these goods are not readily available to consumers.

A few of the items are placed on the shelves and quickly disappear while the rest are kept in store rooms. Shop workers are then selling these items via the backdoor at exorbitant prices to hoarding cartels.

While the general public might loathe the alleged greediness in the top echelons of power, this disease has also spread to almost every sector.

During his short-lived stay in the Finance ministry, political maverick Acie Lumumba also made startling allegations against senior officials at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

This has resulted in RBZ governor John Mangudya suspending four senior directors at the central bank. At this stage, all these are allegations and these officials are innocent until proven guilty.

However, these allegations come at a time when there is a beeline at the magistrates’ courts involving well-heeled officials who are facing various charges.

For example, former Energy minister Samuel Undenge was convicted of prejudicing the Zimbabwe Power Company of $12 000 through a tender, which was issued irregularly.

He was sentenced to four years behind bars, before one year and six months were set aside on condition of good behaviour for criminal abuse of office.

Former first lady Grace Mugabe’s sister, Shuvayi Gumbochuma, was also dragged to court recently on allegations of fraudulently processing the sale of State land before paying for it.

All these cases could just be the tip of the iceberg. Daily News.