Air Zimbabwe Arrests: When justice becomes injustice

West Abbey, London, United Kingdom is the place where the great explorer David Livingstone lies to this day. Yes I’m told that’s the place where his two servants at the time Susi and Chuma embalmed the rest of his remains, wrapped in sailcloth and sailed to London in 1874 and left him there.

Up to this day he continues to sleep there, surreal yet posing a lot of serious questions to us born on this beautiful continent concerning his “discoveries”. From his sojourns in the Zambezi and exploring its tributaries and the Nile source, only he could narrate better what he discovered first hand.

I love Africa. It’s a beautiful continent with great scenic views. From the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, Africa boasts of such tourist attractions which continue to mesmerise visitors till this day. If one travels to North Africa, Egypt especially, the Suez Canal continues to act as a trade bolstering facility between developed countries and developing countries.

It connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, allows ships to travel between Europe and South Asia without navigating around Africa thereby reducing the sea voyage distance between Europe and India by about 7, 000 kilometres!

Although the Suez Canal is just a water way between two continents, it symbolizes much more in value. This Canal strengthens the power of Egypt in world economy.

With the taxes from the ships which use the Suez Canal, the Egyptian economy keeps growing day by day. The siltation and erosion in the coast requires labour force. The required labour force usually comes from the Egyptian society therefore it reduces the unemployment rate in the country.

I would have missed the point if I don’t talk about my own Zimbabwe. We boast of the majestic Victoria Falls, Great Zimbabwe among others. Beautiful continent, beautiful cultures and people.

These are some of the discoveries that Livingstone yearned to make but alas fate had other plans for him. But to his advantage, he witnessed the development of early societies in Africa. Today West Abbey is a resting place for the explorer who witnessed first-hand development of early societies.

Through his interactions and dealings with local chiefs and people in Africa, there are many things that only he could narrate concerning the political organisation of these early states. Forget about the great divide between distortion and factual representation. This is a debate that continues to this day. But all this is to wonder off the point.

When the gander is mistaken for a duck

Over the past weeks, a sombre atmosphere engulfed Zimbabwe. The sentencing of former Air Zimbabwe Chief Executive Officer, Peter Chikumba and the company secretary, Grace Pfumbidzai for a combined 20 years left many mesmerised by the “competent’ justice delivery system.

The two were convicted for criminal abuse of office. While relatives and loved ones wailed and toiled at the courts in trying to get sympathy, it proved to be a futile exercise.


While I don’t want to exonerate these two from the “harsh” sentence, a lot of interesting questions emerge. As one thinks and ponders on the reason why the courts flexed some treacherous muscle in trying to restore public confidence in justice delivery in as far as corruption is concerned, a lot of “whys” emerge. What about others?

Whose Justice is it anyway?

I mean we have our archives of corruption hidden in deep parts of our memories. Yes, this is our hope at least for now, something that has become part of us and as the political tides continue to trudge towards exciting times ahead, all we can do is watch. We have so many cases of parastatals that were left in the intensive care unit by most political figures who continue to bask and revel in ill-gotten wealth and success.

But alas, our courts, magnanimous to criminals as ever, continue to operate and skirt on corruption cases with rehearsed precision and yet when those not aligned to powerful figures within the political matrix err, they act swiftly with the speed of lightning to at least remind citizens and would-be criminals that they still have a semblance of what courts should do.

We can write thick volumes of how ZUPCO was looted by one Bright Matonga, Chiadzwa diamonds corruption that saw no revenue being remitted to treasury during the time of the inclusive government. Ask Biti. The rest of the corruption cases are already public knowledge. I would waste my precious time to talk about rampant looting in the allocation of land and stands by those aligned to Ignatius Chombo. The list is endless.

The justice delivery in Zimbabwe is deplorable to say the least. On one end you have the new National Prosecuting Authority masquerading as an institution with a constitutional mandate of undertaking criminal proceedings on behalf of the state, headed by one Johannes Tomana, who is a former Attorney General under whose charge he was actually an enabler of the regimes transgressions.

Today he has just shifted office but same script. The police also continue to play to the whims and tunes of political players and in many cases they have actually taken orders from politicians which in itself is a violation of their ethical practices and standards.

On the other hand you have a “spineless” Auditor General whose job is to just audit and sit back and relax. In 2010 after carrying out an audit government of parastatal bosses, it unearthed misappropriation of funds, embezzlement and other fraudulent activities.

If the findings from this audit were to be executed and acted upon, the whole of government, ministers and parastatal bosses would have been arrested. But alas, if anything, several people who have been implicated in corruption have actually been promoted. What a travesty of justice!

Now when you have several cases under the carpet at the instigation of those in power and authority, what does one make of this nation?

The days ahead will have many eyes.

That’s the bottom line.

The writer Rawlings Magede is a rural political enthusiast who writes from Nkayi.

MUTASA:THE SUN SETS IN PARADISE TOO!

WHEN THE BULLY RUNS SCARED..

When I was doing my ordinary level studies, my History teacher, One Mr Sharara always added some humour that enhanced our zeal and enthusiasm for history. I remember it like it was yesterday how my friend and I would always look forward to his lessons. At times because of mischief, we would exceed history lesson by asking “unnecessary” questions that would take away time from other lessons. Those were the days!

His lessons were always something to look forward to; they were so educative in the literal sense. His expansive narrative on African history, made me take pride in being fortunate to be born on this beautiful continent of Africa. At one time I remember, he taught us about the Mfecane and how invincible Tshaka the Zulu was at the peak of his reign. These were exciting times, yes, times that would cause us to have all sorts of imaginations of how he looked like.

They were a lot of controversies in his reign too. When his mother Nandi died in October 1827, huge numbers were put to death during the mourning ceremonies because they showed “insufficient grief” and his armies were also sent out to neighbouring chiefdoms to force them to grieve the loss of his mother.

His fall as narrated by our teacher invoked feelings of celebration in us and I still harbour a lot of questions of how a ruthless king could oppress his own. His fall came about when he was betrayed by his own people. Taking advantage of the absence of his armies, on 22 September 1828,his bodyguard whom our teacher only identified as Mbopha,and his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana,stabbed Tshaka near his military barracks at Dukuza.As his life ebbed away, he called to his brother Dingane:”hey brother! You kill me, thinking you will rule, but the swallows will do that”. By the swallows he meant the white people, because they made their houses of mud, like the swallows. This was too much for his assailants and they leapt upon him, stabbing. His last words of his words were,”Are you stabbing me, kings of the earth? You will come to an end through killing one another.”

How the mighty fell! I liked his “prophecy” that they would all kill one another. Surely all barbaric acts do come to an end. It’s true. The sun actually sets in paradise. This is the same predicament that one former Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa finds himself in.The gruesome stories of torture and killings by Mutasa especially in Headlands, still reverberate till this day. His acts of evil have been documented for all to see.http://nehandaradio.com/zimbabwe-wall-of-shame/.How his political career will turn out, remains a question best answered by those who fired him, but with the writing clear on the wall of a new “order” in ZANU PF,he might not make a biblical resurrection like Dzikamai Mavhaire,whose resurrection was short-lived.

Villain turns Victim?
One of the most unfortunate misdemeanours by our media is to apply lipstick on frogs. Whether they present Mutasa as a “champion” by using all forms of adulterated titles to describe him like “vibrant’ this or that, what is sorry is that no matter how they try to reinvent him, his evil past which has made a permanent imprint on people’s memories, always amplify the throes and cries of his victims who have given up on seeking justice.He remains a villain, detested by the common man who suffered during his time at the helm where he sprinkled “gamatox” on anyone who dared challenge ZANU PF especially in the Headlands constituency.

And today Mutasa runs away from that era of ruin, sprightly pursued by a monument of utter failure to try and re-join what he terms the “original” ZANU PF.This original ZANU PF is the one under whose tutelage, he committed acts of “genocide’ against the innocent people in constituency. His assertion that he remains part of the original ZANU PF can invite scrutiny from his sympathisers that he might never like and withdraw sympathy. The urge to be re-admitted into high office and sinecure is all there is to his “dubious” media interviews that he is giving willy-nilly these days.

Today he continues to distance, retreat and remain mum on some bad choices he made against a sceptical and interested public that would want to hear him reveal finer details of ZANU PF’S acts of gross human rights violations. He continues to eschew this important subject and falter; retreating into a self-made cocoon where he continues to sing the tired swan song of how “illegitimate” the recent ZANU PF congress was. He does so with sickening bitterness.

Far from the monumental madness by him, his other mate in ruin, Rugare Gumbo continues to do the same. They continue to masquerade as champions of democracy and injustice of ZANU PF but during long stints in ZANU PF, they used all machinery at their disposal to torture, maim and kill opposition supporters. From the state agents to youths, the list is endless.

Today they continue to eat up necessary space in the newspapers that can be used to talk about hunger and suffering taking place in rural communities. They are busy going to court for redress and the same courts that they used to oppress people are today fighting from a different corner. While they continue to revel in cold comfort of their demise, they must never think that they will receive sympathy from the suffering Zimbabweans who continue to suffer because of poor governance by ZANU PF that they have affinity for. Bad days outnumber good ones in politics!

While these two have been accused of being personalities of legendary pretences by biting the hand that fed them, what true however, is that their political careers have eclipsed just in a moment. Its over!

That’s the bottom line.


Rawlings Magede writes in his personal capacity and he is a rural political enthusiast who writes from Zimbabwe.

Mphoko:THE SAD STORY OF A WELL FED SLAVE

There seems to be no rhyme to Vice President Mphoko’s madness. After reading his abominable utterances about Gukurahundi in the interview he gave to Sunday Mail, I was left dejected just like many millions of Zimbabweans who had expected much from a ‘fresh’ mind within the presidium. But nay, the man is just like a beeline of bootlickers and sympathisers of the system. Given the “vast” business empire that he is said to run, he is one of the beneficiaries of the patronage machinery. The interview is so revealing.Mphoko has chosen to be a well fed slave than a hungry free man as the Legend of reggae Lucky Dube would put it.


A modern day slave is not one with a goering on his neck. It’s one who sings for his super. One who is mentally beholden to someone, one who sings the song of the slave master. This forms part of the curricular vitae of the new VP as he announced his entrance on the political arena. Many a time since his swearing in, the VP has made damaging remarks be about vendors or anything that he deems necessary to talk about. While he has betrayed the people of Matabeleland that he somehow shares some historical facts and realities with, it seems the thought of the “bogus and dubious” luxuries that come with the gravy train has corrupted his thinking.

In the unfortunate article, the VP reduces the grave Gukurahundi massacres to a “conspiracy” of the West. It is a well-rehearsed interview that is given by one dramatizing his CV and displaying his “credentials” before his new employers. Of course the interview can never be rubber stamped as a true reflection of what transpired unless if one is a proverbial idiot who sings wedding songs at a funeral.

Of course, Mphokos sentiments don’t come as a surprise especially to me. President Mugabe himself has only reduced the Gukurahundi atrocities to a mere “moment of madness” and has not even bothered to avail the findings of the Chihambakwe commission. Lately his spokesperson George Charamba joined the fray and added even more insults by claiming that Gukurahundi was a myth. Now these people we hear carping nowadays mumbling about a conflict they have chosen to distort its facts, are busy perfuming nonsense about all the “theories” they have so carefully crafted to try and change facts that regrettably are already public knowledge. Theirs remains a lone and distorted voice in the wasteland using the public media to score unworthy points and to cleanse ZANU PF’s soiled hands in the genocide.

To cut a long story short, the whole interview amounts to an impulsive stubborn rejection of facts of history, facts which keep bouncing against a dishonest mind -that because of fear of the “known” remains unrepentant and heartless. All this is another matter, another story for another day. I am not chasing that today.

Enter Organ of National Healing and Reconciliation…

Now with such naivety, can any honest, sane person expect more from this organ that has been coincidentally placed under Mphoko? Is it not like expecting output from brains without filter? Honestly, the organ that even failed during the time of the inclusive government when it was still co-chaired by the 3 political parties that were in the government. Now ZANU PF is at it alone and how can one deal with a group whose collective genius tells them that Gukurahundi was a conspiracy of the West or a myth?

It comes not as a surprise the snail’s pace in the composition of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. There has, however, been muted calls for the composition of this independent commission that is mandated to ensure post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation, seemingly just ahead of this abominable utterances by the Vice President (V.P). He and the rest of his ZANU PF cabal can remain behind self-made bars of denial of facts.

What’s important is that the new V.P who is supposed to propagate messages of healing and reconciliation, is the one whose effortless downhill descent into madness has even kicked off his political career off to a bad start.
Will there ever be NPRC?

Interestingly, the tenure of the NPRC is fast expiring and there is nothing that the government has done to try and speed up its composition .Of course the deliberate delay is linked to ZANU PF stubborn rejection of facts that are well documented for all to see and verify on the need for healing and reconciliation.

The term of the NPRC might come and expire, but the need for healing and reconciliation can never be wished away. Coming up with dubious opinions which seek to show acts of unforgiveness, tribalism and hate only compounds the situation.
Unfortunately, Gukurahundi is an act of genocide that is stuck with us as a country and there is no amount of opinions or press releases that can change that unless the process of national healing and reconciliation is initiated.

If you stand for the truth,you stand alone!

That’s the bottom line!

Rawlings Magede is a rural political enthusiast who writes from Zimbabwe.

PEACE AND RECONCILIATION: A PANACEA TO GUKURAHUNDI!!

The recent confession by Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda that he witnessed the torture and gruesome murder of more than 20 000 people in Matabeleland and parts of Midlands during the dark years of Gukurahundi in the early 1980s by soldiers from the 5 Brigade, but was powerless to stop it makes a sad but regrettable reading

Why Mudenda has chosen to speak after 27 years of silence is not known but what remains salient is the fact that there is no retreat from the ubiquitous challenge posed by the continued lack of political will on the need to create peace and dialogue on Gukurahundi.

Mudenda made these sensational claims during a three-day men’s fellowship conference organised by the Brethren –In-Christ church in Lobengula under the theme, “Peace and Justice” where he was guest speaker. He said though he witnessed it, he was too powerless to stop it.It boggles one’s mind why given the assumption that he has power today, why hasn’t he sought to seek redress on the matter.

President Mugabe soon after independence enunciated a policy of National Reconciliation in his famous speech where he said, “surely this is now the time to beat our swords into ploughshares so we can attend to the problems of developing our economy and our society. I urge you whether you are black or white, to join me in a new pledge to forget our grim past, forgive others and forget, join hands in a new amity, and together as Zimbabweans, trample upon racialism, tribalism and regionalism, and work hard to reconstruct and rehabilitate our society as we invigorate our economic machinery”.

Since then there is virtually no debate on this issue which remains sensitive till now. Every attempt to bring up this issue has been treated with cruel hostility and clampdown. Thousands of people who disappeared during Gukurahundi remain unaccounted for.

The Unity Accord of 1987 finally put to an end to this massacre but it didn’t address the process of healing and Reconciliation that the President had identified as a remedy to aggression. One hurdle that makes healing and reconciliation a herculean task is the fact that how does reconciliation where those who burnt other people’s houses, raped women and killed many don’t show remorse? For example it’s a public secret that Perence Shiri the current Air force chief was the commander of the 5th Brigade that carried out Gukurahundi in Matebeland and yet he has never been tried before any court but rather was actually rewarded with a top post.

The findings of the two probe committees established by Mugabe that is the Chihambakwe and Dumbutshena commissions were never made public and it remains unclear the recommendations they made. For a long time the ZANU PF government has successfully avoided direct discourse on the Gukurahundi atrocities but when you have a political figure like Mudenda confessing to the nation the barbaric ordeal of how innocent women, men and children were brutally killed by the 5th brigade it shows beyond doubt that Zimbabwe is nation that is in dire need of healing, reconciliation and peace.

The Parliamentary and Presidential elections in 2008 present yet another scenario that makes healing and reconciliation and national healing evitable. Violence, torture, murder, arbitrary detentions, disappearances, maiming of opposition supporters prompted Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from the election race. His supporters had limbs cut off and today these scars they still carry them while the perpetrators walk free. When the Government of National Unity was formed, the government responded by establishing the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration (ONHRI).

The purpose and aim of the ONHRI was to establish a mechanism for national healing, cohesion and unity and laying the foundation for a society characterised by mutual respect, tolerance and development. The ONHRI was composed of members from political parties involved in skirmishes who themselves were not clean in terms of their utterances. One questions the wisdom of entrusting the process of national healing and reconciliation to partisan individuals. Of course this proved a futile exercise and the organ didn’t deliver its mandate till its mandate expired.

The truth is that the past should be revisited and confronted. Atrocities of the past have to be acknowledged and in some cases apologies made or even reparations where necessary since there is no healing without justice. Victims and perpetrators of conflict and violence have to be at the centre of reconciliation and healing activities. Reconciliation is an absolute necessity today. It is a guarantee that violence that happened in the past will never occur again. Victims of Gukurahundi aswell as the election periods especially the 2008 elections have not told their stories. They remain in the abyss of pain and neglect. The truth remains hidden or is being told from the perspective of those in power. The truth they tell is one-sided and therefore wounds remain open.

Mudenda is now speaker of Parliament and in his capacity as Speaker of Parliament; these are some of the debates that he should initiate by any means possible. He should now use that office to make past wrongs, right. Instead of giving a lame excuse to the few men at the fellowship that the government is sorry, he should initiate the healing process. The new constitution that is in place provides for the establishment of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission(NPRC) which is not yet functional till now, albeit the herculean task that lies ahead. Whether it will deliver or not, remains a mystery. Only time will tell.

The writer, Rawlings Magede, is a rural political enthusiast who writes from Zimbabwe.rawedge699@gmail.com

ZANU PF: WHERE CORRUPTION EQUALS TO PROMOTION

The new political dimensions that we witnessed in the past weeks have been full of drama full swing. On the political front, cabinet ministers chose to abandon their duties to follow the first lady “meet the people” rallies where some ZANU PF cronies, drunk with partisan idiocy, paralysed with hero worship sought to revamp their waning uncertain political careers in the face of smearing retribution by the first lady on those she alleged were causing factionalism that were threatening the continued grip on power by her husband.

In all this hocus pocus, the public media notably; The Herald and ZBC led a full coverage of these rallies. I felt sorry for those paying licences to the “state” broadcaster who were “tortured” everyday by these rallies. Of course the state media must be commended for an “excellent” but lamentable propensity to make people of shallow intellect famous because of their proximity to the corridors of power. The functions of the whole government grounded to a halt as responsible authorities who were supposed to be running ministries were busy making slogans meant to gain Machiavellian mileage at their expense of government business. This is the orbit around which the country has been oscillating in the past weeks.
During one of these rallies the First Lady “Amai” Mugabe with an avenging sword single handedly chose to make shocking revelations in Mashonaland Central Province that there was “someone” not only trying to topple her husband but also engaged in a vast extortion enterprises.
Said Grace: “… that same person who goes around demanding 10 per cent shareholding in companies. If you go to any company now, the name of that person is mentioned.

“You lead factions, you extort companies and you are involved in illicit diamond deals, so you cannot say you are not corrupt. “These accusations many believe were targeted to vice president Joyce Mujuru. The gist of the matter is not so much who it was meant for, but how and why that person was still in government. Why that person has been given free course to do such unfair practices remains a scandal that will live to be told another day.

Despite the call by individuals, civic society and other pressure groups to call for an audit into how our diamonds from Chiadzwa were being appropriated, the ZANU PF government continued to nicodemously unaccounted for the vast revenue from diamonds. When the diamonds were discovered the government demagogically said that the proceeds from the diamonds were going to revamp our comatose economy but far from that, this individual whom Grace Mugabe meant was/is busy involved in illicit diamond dealings enriching her at the expense of the whole nation. Many people from Chiadzwa who were displaced when diamonds were discovered had to eke out an existence when promises made to them were never actualised.

This confession by Grace brings many things to mind.ZANU PF is a conference of lily livered opportunists united by money and greed, for you to remain on top you have to remain loyal to the vision of plunder of Zimbabwe’s natural resources and self-centeredness. Deviating from this set way, will result in expulsion. The economic haemorrhage and meltdown we have witnessed have not only been caused by sanctions as they say. This looting and plunder of resources and grabbing of other peoples businesses, has led to the collapse of our economy. The reality within ZANU PF at the moment is sickening; no drive to revive the ailing economy, no backbone to deal with corruption but just an expired swan song on sanctions.
Why President Mugabe doesn’t act on his cronies to stamp out corruption and greedy, remains a secret best known to him. His talk on sovereignty has proved a fiction used to limit humanitarian assistance to those who have been left on the peripheries of lack and poverty. He has used it so much to legitimise his power and coerce the weak into believing his fake gospel on the need to be sovereign as a nation.

How can we talk of sovereignty when one person and his accomplices extort minerals meant to benefit the country? Why does he continue to allow these corrupt individuals serve in his government? Has that proverbial statement that says birds of the same feathers flock together found its root within ZANU PF?Has ZANU PF factional fighting reduced him from being a national leader to something like a village head presiding over mundane unproductive cases? Time will not tell because he has failed to reign on those fingered in corrupt activities.
Rawlings Magede is rural political enthusiast who writes from Nkayi, Matebeleland North Province.rawedge699@gmail.com

STOP THE ROT MINISTER CHOMBO!

The song Mubikira by Leonard Zhakata best describes the plight or predicament that most hardworking home seekers find themselves in.In the song Zhakata laments the selective application of the law in a country ravaged by injustice and suppression. He describes those who oppress and wield political power as insincere to the attainment of justice and equality. “For how long shall people keep quiet? When the elephants fight, it is the grasses that suffer, “he sings.

In the year 2013 I penned a story that was informed by the investigations I had done in the city of Gweru involving one Smelly Dube who owns a real estate company called River valley Properties, who donated a house valued at US$ 50,000 to President Mugabe. The reason, as she puts it, was to honour and appreciate the president for the land reform programme and empowerment. The company also gave more than 1000 high and medium density stands to civil servants and offered to provide building materials on a monthly basis payment. Of course in the story I clearly said that the pledge by Ms Dube was celebrated in the public media of course to sell white lies to the citizens that she was advancing the causes of the general man while she infact was undermining them. And yes of course, Minister of Local Government Chombo was the guest at the handing ceremony.
In the article I gave several examples of people who were using treacherous political means to fleece innocent home seekers of their hard earned cash like musician-cum businessman Energy Mutodi etc. These people have been dragged before the courts time and again but our courts seem magnanimous to criminals. In the case of Rivervalley properties there have been several developments that I thought I should share a year after I penned that article.

From my investigations and findings it appears deliberate on the part of Smelly Dube who because of the current demolitions taking place in places such as Chitungwiza and Epworth, is trying by all means to fortify her “business empire” that is being funded by the dollars of innocent home seekers. Many desperate home seekers had to eke out an existence for the past years for them to achieve every man’s dream of owning property.

Some top politicians and top civil service commission officers, provincial heads of uniformed and general civil servants and a few in lower ranks in Gweru were given free stands. The majority of these have high salaries in the civil service with the capacity to pay for the stands. This was done to give a misleading impression that River valley properties is a philanthropic indigenous company there to assist the homeless in line with government policies, yet the truth is that this was a way of bribing the top officials to make them cast a blind eye to the rampant looting and robbery and corruption which is currently full swing.

The majority and paying civil servants were offered stands at a cost of $15 per square meter making a 1000sqm stand cost $15000 for servicing only. The servicing does not include sewerage. Paying at a rate of $100 (a 1/4 of the majority of civil servants' salaries) per month a beneficiary with that size of a stand will have to pay for the incomplete servicing for 12.5 years. Those who got bigger stands will have to pay for as long as 20yrs.

Desperate home seeking civil servants under River valley properties made an extravagant whim completing misleading agreement forms by the involvement of a River valley properties office operating in the public works offices headed by a “partly” River valley properties and “partly” government employee known as the projects manager Ms Matilda Manhambo.Why she is doubling as an employee of River valley or government employee, no one knows.

Phase 1 of a similar scheme which was done by Public works working with beneficiaries was completed in less than 10yrs and the servicing of stands even as big as 1800sqm cost less than $5000.This therefore shows that Rivervalley made its name by pretending to have given some civil servants, politicians and close associates free stands yet they made paying beneficiaries pay for all stands and also made sure the company would get a profit.The agreements of sales were so craftily designed and no one can withdraw from the scheme without substantially losing and refunds are not prompt.

Smelly Dube is building a mansion in the Kopje area while there is no significant servicing of the stands. The company also donates a lot of money in cash or kind to ZANU PF political events to maintain its “patriotic image" at the expense of beneficiaries. What still boggles is why all this rot has continued to go on unresolved while Minister Chombo continues to cast a blind eye. Minister Chombo has been a minister for a long time and over the years he appears to have an ear for sycophants and swindlers, those who run dubious and bogus land schemes or cooperatives have continued to take refuge under his fortress.

Property rights are enshrined in the new constitution and the Minister doesn’t appear moved. Even during the on-going demolitions that have taken place, he hasn't even bothered to do a land audit of how those home seekers got the land. What I know for a fact is that these home seekers just didn't start building houses from t nowhere but they got land from these people who are affiliated to the Minister. What is the Ministers mandate when he has failed monumentally to defend the rights of citizens? Now if the constitution guarantees property rights, who is Smelly Dube or Minister Chombo to bar citizens from exercising their constitutional rights?


Rawlings Magede is a rural political enthusiast who writes from Matebeland North Province. Email rawedge699@gmail.com

ITS CORRUPTION, NOT SANCTIONS!

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 our way. And always I prevailed, because, "faith abides" it never, ever, fails.(Strive Masiyiwa,Econet Wireless Founder).This startling confessing by Masiyiwa comes at a time when Zimbabwe is embroiled in serious acts of corruption that has remained the major Achilles 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, creches, 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 from political parties sang for their super with gusto and passion in defending for 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,Fertilizer 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-levered 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 have 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 build 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 Zimplasts 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$40million was paid to Brainworks for preparing an “agreement” of the indigenization arrangement between Zimplasts and a community ownership trust. It remains the only world record I am aware of where US$40million 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 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, re-investigate 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 capacity.rawedge699@gmail.com