Luke-ing the Beast in the Eye: SPECIAL REPORT: De-tinting government —- the real “vehicles” whose tints govt must remove

In the past week, there has been furore and outright confusion right inside Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office when his secretary for Presidential Affairs Tafadzwa Muguti urged public and private vehicle owners to remove all tints on their vehicles while his spokesperson George Charamba shot down the move, saying the pronouncement was not only coming from an unauthorised office and officer but had no backing in both fact and the law.

What struck my mind after this confusion was that perhaps it is this apparent tint and fog in government, starting from right inside Mnangagwa’s office, that must be removed so that there is probity and sightful stewardship by those presiding over the grievous matters of the State.

Indeed, judging by this confusion on this trifle matter while the nation sinks on the back of deeper and graver issues to do with looting and corruption, perhaps it is government itself that needs massive de-tinting.

This week, I posit that for a government that has over the years cast a veil of secrecy on serious national matters—from debt figures to public contracts and mining revenue streams, it is in fact not our cars but government itself that must be de-tinted so as to enhance accountability and transparency.

Senior government officials and politically connected individuals have used several murky “vehicles” to steal from the people and the tint must be removed on those vehicles in the interest of transparency and accountability.

It is government that must de-dint itself and it’s activities.

We, the citizens, demand a de-tinted government so that we see and know what exactly is happening inside the heavily tinted corridors of power where our taxes are being (mis) used.

This week, I will cite just 10 “vehicles” of looting where government must remove the heavy tint:

1. China and the US$600 million railways rehabilitation contract

During ED’s recent trip to China, government announced that it had entered into a US $600 million agreement with the China Railway International Group (CRIG) for the rehabilitation of the country’s national rail infrastructure.

The details around this massive contract remain heavily tinted, and perhaps deliberately so.

Why Zimbabweans want this huge contract de-tinted is the suspicious coincidences around this contract, especially the coincidences to do with Mnangagwa himself, his crooked proxies. relatives and close political allies who have all suddenly crowded around this huge contract.

It was suspicious that Wicknell Chivayo was reported to be in China during the same trip. Also on the same trip was Virginia Mabhiza, a very close ally of Mnangagwa from their days together at the Ministry of Justice with ED as the Minister and Mabhiza as the permanent secretary.

Government minions, including celebrated turncoat Jonathan Moyo, sought to justify her presence during this trip by citing her role as Attorney General, saying the chief government lawyer needed to deploy her legal eye on all government contracts and agreements, most probably with this huge railways agreement as the main pie.

I admit there is no credible evidence of malfeasance just yet but the convenient developments happening at the same time all point to the huge possibility of a looming heist!

Not only were ED’s personal allies in the name of Mabhiza and Chivayo in China at the time of this agreement in the past week but almost at the same time in Harare, former chief secretary to the President and Cabinet and a Mnangagwa relative, Misheck Sibanda, was being conveniently appointed as the chairperson of the board of the National Railways of Zimbabwe.

The vultures are certainly angling for the carcass on the railway line and all Zimbabweans are asking for is that government must de-tint this massive contract for the sake of accountability and transparency.

Was this project even publicly tendered or the Chinese company was just selected bereft of any competitive bidding process?

Forget our innocent cars, the government must remove the heavy tint on this possible looting “vehicle”.

2. De-tinting and de-fogging national debt figures

Citizens have even gone to court in recent years in their quest for transparency around the issue of external and domestic debt.

Zimbabwe’s official stock of public debt stands at US$21.5 billion, with a domestic debt at US$8.9 billion. But there’s a lot of debt-fuelled corruption as the figures keep changing in heavily tinted circumstances.

The tint on national debt as a vehicle of looting must be removed.

3. De-tinting Command Agriculture

Command agriculture, through which over US$3billion has been systematically looted in recent years by a politically connected cartel fronted by Kudakwashe “Central Committee” Tagwirei, is a heavily tinted crime vehicle.

The tint on command agriculture must be removed in the interest of transparency.

4. De-tinting Treasury Bills

Treasury Bills have become yet another tinted vehicle for looting. In 2024, the government says it paid US$775.95 million in debt repayments. Of this, US$358 million went towards domestic debt, largely in Treasury Bills to the known corrupt cartel.

There’s still raging controversy around the US$1.9 billion in Treasury Bills that were issued to Kuvimba Mining.

The heavy tint on Treasury Bills as a vehicle of looting must be removed.

5. De-tinting the matter of the missing US $15 billion in diamond revenue

While in countries such as Botswana one can tell where the diamond revenue was invested because of the palpable prudent social services and the modernised national infrastructure, in Zimbabwe, we have nothing to show for our diamond and other mineral wealth, perhaps except the teeming mansions in Shawasha hills by the politically-connected criminals.

Former president Robert Mugabe, though not squeaky-clean himself, told us that US $15 billion was stolen from the diamond proceeds in Marange.

The tint around the proceeds from diamond revenue and other minerals as vehicles of looting must be removed.

6. De-tinting and de-fogging the eyes minds of the 2030 anti-constitutionalists.

The eyes and minds of the 2030 anti-constitutionalist choristers led by Daniel Garwe must be de-dinted so that they can clearly see the provisions of the Constitution which generally proscribe presidential term extensions and explicitly state that where such an extension is duly accorded, the incumbent must not benefit.

The heavy tint on the minds, hearts and eyes of these delusional characters must be removed.

7. De-tinting Idai-gate

As cyclone Idai victims victims wallowed in their helplessness mainly in Masvingo and Manicaland provinces, their donations were systematically looted by the ruling elite.

The sad story of the full prejudice has yet to be fully told.But what was reported was that about US$4,5 million from international aid agencies was looted. The Auditor-General even alarmingly recorded that less than 1 percent of the funds meant for the victims was channeled for the intended purpose, adding that at all levels from the national right down to the districts, there were no proper records for relief items received and distributed.

In our culture, it is taboo to squander any item–either monetary or in kind– meant for grieving families (kudya mari yechema).

To this day, Zimbabweans, particularly the traumatised Cyclone Idai victims who are still grieving their human and material losses, want a proper audit to remove the heavy tint that clouded these donations!

8. De-tinting Covid-gate

Similarly, Covid-gate was a huge crime scene in which the ruling elite profited from the Covid-19 scourge and looted funds meant to mitigate the dire plight of the citizens. Remember Draxgate? (And by the way is Drax not the short version for Dr Auxillia?)

The Health Minister at the time, Obediah Moyo, may have been sacrificed but to this day, we, the citizens, demand a full audit to remove the heavy tint that still clouds this monumental scandal.

9. De-tinting the Mutapa Investment Fund

We have a classic case where government deliberately put a heavy tint on the Mutapa Investment Fund to shield it from public scrutiny and parliamentary oversight.

Statutory Instrument 156 of 2023 was a deliberate government tint initiative to “opaque” the MIF from procurement laws and parliamentary oversight.

That tint on the MIF as a “vehicle’ of looting must be removed!

10. De-tinting ZEC-gate

The tint and taint remain around the multi-millions in a poll-material procurement scandal that were stolen by a criminal cartel led by the notorious tummied one. While the FBI of the United States and the Financial Intelligence Centre of South Africa made a lot of noise about this huge raid of our national coffers, including exhorting the Zimbabwe government to investigate possible crimes, the kleptocratic government in Harare has remained loudly quiet.

The heavy tint on our elections as a vehicle of grand theft and looting must be removed.

Conclusion

By way of conclusion, the tint in government is so thick and heavy such that Charamba and Muguti, who work in the same office and for the same principal cannot see each other.

I posit that it is this tint at the very apex of government that must be removed first before anyone talks about the tints on our vehicles.

“Guti”is the Shona word for fog, that atmospheric tint that blurs our vision usually on spring mornings. Before Muguti talks about removing the “guti”(tint) on our cars, he must first remove the”guti” of presidential confusion that blinds him from “seeing” from the same eye with Charamba who is within the same elevated presidential locus.

Indeed, the tint in government is so thick that the office of the President can’t see itself!

Also as explained in this piece, this regime has used several tinted “vehicles” mentioned above for looting and grand theft. It is the tints on those”vehicles” of theft that must be removed, not the tint on baba Jeremaya’s battered jallopy in Mbare, Nketa or Highfield.

It is government and not our cars that must be de-tinted.

But hey hold on! Is the regime itself not the tint that must be removed by all legal and Constitutionally available means?

Luke Tamborinyoka, now based in the United Kingdom, is a citizen from Domboshava. He is by profession a journalist and a political scientist. You can interact with him via his facebook page or his X handle @luke_tambo.