By Tichatonga Mangwana
In Kenya we have a Swahili saying: “Mfumo wowote wa uongozi ni kama samaki. Huanza kuoza kuanzia kichwani. Mkia ukianza kutoa harufu mbaya, ujue kichwa kimekwisha vunda”. In English, it literally means leadership, like fish, rots from the head downwards to the tail. If the tail begins to smell bad, then know the head is rotten to the core or is no longer there at all.
The whole Minister of ICT, a fellow from Sakubva and a Harare Polytechnic graduate, Supa Mandiwanzira, together with his deputy, gets a “loan” from a parastatal that’s under the ministry he runs.
Now, Supa has only been a minister for 3 years but his super corrupt instincts are staggering. The “loan” is worth $200 000. Yes, $200 000 to buy a car! We should never be fooled; the word loan is a big disguise. It’s the usual looting spree cloaked as a loan.
The regime has now pressed on the overdrive looting gear. They just won’t stop. It is as if things have fallen apart; as if the ship has hit a huge ice berg and the crooks are hustling and scuffling to grab the little that’s left in this corruption ravaged southern African country.
Our ministers and senior government officials- from Kumbirai Kangai to Mavhaire, from Cuthbert Dube to Undenge, from Parirenyatwa to Supa Mandiwanzira- have a colossal and massive appetite to abuse public funds.
Supa can break all the rules and get a “loan” of $200k from a parastatal he runs to buy a vehicle. Nothing will happen to Supa except some few noises from the MDC and civic groups. Then after life goes on; because anything goes in Zimbabwe.
A few important questions beg for answers. Supa has a few businesses that he runs in Zimbabwe, including some in South Africa. Mandiwanzira was the managing director of the Africa Business Communications until 2002 when he became CEO of Mighty Movies, following the purchase of the company from its original shareholders.
He`s worked for SABC and Al Jazeera as the Zimbabwe Correspondent. He left Al Jazeera to focus on his business interests which included Civil Construction, Mining, Property Development, cinemas, radio and television production, and newspapers.
He became the MP for Nyanga South and was also appointed Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity. He is currently minister for ICT. Mandiwanzira is building a large structure in South Africa with Li Siao Dong, owner of MegaWatt Energy, in a joint venture between Mandiwanzira’s company Blue Nightingale and three other companies, Eliz, Ceseec and Megawatt, all owned by Li Siao Dong.
Considering the above rewarding business careers, why would Mandiwanzira want a loan of such magnitude from a cashless parastatal to buy a car? What example is Mandiwanzira setting to those working under him in his ministry?
Why would someone approve of the loan at a time when the government is thoroughly broke and unable to pay its workers on time? The contraband $200k will not be used to buy a car from Mazda motor industries in Willovale, but will be externalized to import a luxury vehicle from Germany or will be deposited in an off shore account.
Again, recently, Reward Kangai, the suspended NetOne CEO, accused Supa of corrupt involvement in the operations of NetOne. Kangai claims Mandiwanzira had been dealing with Li Siao Dong, a Chinese businessman and owner of MegaWatt Energy.
This is the company that Supa identified as the firm hired by his ICT ministry to investigate allegations that the government had been prejudiced of at least $78 million by Huawei in NetOne’s expansion project!
Now it all makes sense, does it not, why Supa imposed Bvute on Potraz, to facilitate the looting spree! The last time I checked, Potraz awarded $10m contract to an unregistered company. The system is rotten to the core. The ZANU PF looting army keeps pillaging the already bleeding economy they are running.
Now that the Auditor General has exposed the thievery, we wait to see if the loan will be repaid or if the President will sanction his ICT junior minister. Make no mistake about it- nothing will happen to Supa precisely because nothing happened to Kangai, Shamhu and Parirenyatwa.
Supa is not alone
The reason why our ministers keep on looting without shame is that they know nothing will happen to them at all and, second, most people in top ZANU PF leadership are all crooks. $15bn “disappeared” in Marange in the hands of crooks in the ZANU PF system: if the President had acted and the money recovered, that money could have immediately reversed the current cash crunch.
A deal for the construction of a new runway at the Harare International airport was inflated by $13m without approval. Initially, a contract was awarded by the CAAZ in 2009 for the rehabilitation of the runway, priced at $22m.
But by 2015, the price had suddenly risen from $22m to $37.7m, a variation of a massive $13.6m! There was no approval for the increase in the tender cost and there are no documents to explain it. This means an extra $13m has been deducted to pay corrupt officials. There are many cases like these.
In a clear case of greed gone mad, the state’s Vice President, Mphoko, has cloaked more than 500 days booked in an up market hotel at the expense of the taxpayer while civil servants go unpaid. The government has already purchased a $4m property for the chap, but he won’t move out of Meikles hotel as the new property is not yet perfect.
While Mphoko is holed up at Meikles, the country’s economy is slowly grinding to a halt and the nation moves closer to become a failed state; and a feeling of despair and hopelessness engulfs the nation.
The initial tender to construct the Kariba hydro-electric plant was priced at $350m sometime during the GNU period. When Mavhaire replaces Elton Mangoma as minister of energy, the tender value is increased to a whopping $530m.
VimpelCo was recently kicked out of Telecel Zimbabwe. VimpelCo was paid $40m and then our government complains about externalization.
If one adds up all these missing billions, it’s the kind of money required to instantly do away with the current cash dilemma. These and other many examples are the true sanctions affecting Zimbabwe.
On 21 June 2016, Chinamasa blamed sanctions for our current problems saying, “I do not have capital because the country is not in the global economy. Sanctions imposed on us have derailed our capacity to honor our international obligations”.
Its true Zimbabwe is not in the global economy because of the policies of the government he runs. Corrupt activities by his colleagues have seriously derailed government capacity to pay its domestic and foreign debts.
If Magufuli, our neighbor president here in East Africa, was to be president of Zimbabwe for three months, all these corrupt ZANU PF mafia would be doing time at Chikurubi or Hwahwa. But not in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is , of course, not Tanzania.
In Zimbabwe we do what we want. We fought a liberation war so we can do what we want: corrupt officials are not held accountable, we can print our own money and equate the paper money to the Greenback, billions of desperately needed funds can disappear without trace and no one is held accountable!
In Zimbabwe, Supa and other looting mafia like him will survive because that is how the system works. The ZANU PF system works and evolves by supporting and bailing out crooks who have looted the treasury dry.
One thing is needed
It’s a leadership problem. Zimbabwe desperately and urgently needs an honest, selfless, trustworthy and developmental leadership. The current parasitic regime has none of these qualities. It has no capacity to reform. Zimbabwe is in its current state because of a leadership crisis.
The most worrying thing is not the looting itself, but the deafening silence from the nation`s chief executive officer. All the looting is happening under Mugabe’s watch. The man at the top is unmoved by the many and endless corruption scandals. When will the President speak? When will he act to stop his crooks from looting the country dry? A whole minister of ICT gets a “loan” of $200k to buy a car- what will the President do or say?
Conclusion
Corruption is a serious disease. Corruption, in developmental terms, is associated with dictatorships and parasitic states. It corrupts the soul of the nation, turning even the gentlest of man into vicious, evil tyrants.
Mark my words, if corruption goes unchecked in Zimbabwe, it will plunge our nation into further depths of poverty, anarchy and a crude dictatorship. It’s time to take the corrupt regime head on and react with scorn. I do not believe in violence, but I understand the necessity of strength and resolve. Zimbabwe, like a baby that has messed his back, needs a new diaper in the form of a new government.
We have a leadership problem in Zimbabwe. The solution is a new government without even a thought. Nothing else will help.
Tichatonga Mangwana is a researcher based at the Institute of Research and Development in Kenya. He can be reached at [email protected]
