via Chinamasa: Sanctions caused corruption 9 November 2014
FINANCE Minister Patrick Chinamasa has blamed targeted sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Western governments in 2002 for the massive corruption taking place in parastatals.
Chinamasa made the remarks while responding to a question posed by a Danish journalist who was part of a Danish government delegation that was visiting Zimbabwe last week.
The Danish delegation was in the country as part of the European state’s re-engagement efforts with President Robert Mugabe’s government.
The journalist wanted to know what measures the Zimbabwean government was putting in place to stop corruption and protect foreign investors.
Chinamasa however sought to turn the tables on the journalist telling him that were it not for sanctions, Zimbabwe would not be corrupt.
“What you need to know is that because of sanctions and because companies were collapsing, which they did, like you know our industries basically collapsed, as formal businesses were collapsing it swelled the ranks of the informal sector,” said Chinamasa.
“People then adopted survival strategies. It was like a war situation; we are now, I think, getting out of that.
“So it means a re-inculcation of the culture of doing business in a straight manner which really had been undermined by the revolution that we had gone through which was basically akin to a war situation,” he said.
Zimbabwe went through a severe economic crisis which peaked in 2007. The crisis was described by the World Bank as the worst in living memory.
Critics blame the economic crisis on mismanagement by President Mugabe but the veteran Zimbabwean leader denies the charge blaming targeted sanctions imposed by Western governments for the collapse.
Zimbabwe was ranked at position 163 out of 174 countries by Transparency International on its Corruption Perception Index, according to a 2012 report. In 2011, Zimbabwe was on position 154.
The Danish government said it was interested in investing in Zimbabwe but raised concerns about Zimbabwe’s indigenisation laws which it said needed to be clarified.
The Danes said Zimbabwe should also compensate white farmers who lost their land in 2000 when the country embarked on a controversial land reform programme.
COMMENTS
Chinamasa can keep on spouting his fairy tale ideas, but until he and the rest of government assumes responsibility for their actions, foreign investors will give the country a very wide berth.
Next he’ll be saying that sanctions cause tooth decay.
What a bunch of liars the thieving thugs are all they want is to get hold of the money for themselves and live the lavish life styles they are living fluttering here and there with no clue how to do things except for themselves
The other thing to consider is how badly Chinamasa’s remarks effect foreign perceptions of the country. He of all people knows that the “sanctions caused us to be a failure,” argument doesn’t fly with the Europeans or any other intelligent, well informed people. The Danes may not say it to his face, but they are thinking, “What kind of wacko weed is this guy smoking? Does he want our help or does he just want to piss us off?”
If Chinamasa wants to get foreign support, he needs to show that the country is listening to the international community’s suggestions and act responsibly to implement them. Tongue lashing a foreign journalist simply perpetuates the foreign perception that ZANU-PF remains selfish and petulant, and is NOT a reliable partner to enact change.
What a clown Chinamasa is Were there sanctions in the 1980’s.See below:
HOW THE COUNTRY LOST IT
In the early 1980s, corruption at the scale we see it now was rare. The Paweni Grain Scandal was the most notable.
In the 1990s, sleaze wasalien, but when the biggest scandal, which was later known as “Willowgate”, rocked the country and left many politicians’ careers hanging by the thread after a letter got lost and landed on a businessman’s in-tray when he was not entitled to the tax rebates for a newly-assembled Toyota Cressida by government’s Willowvale Mazda Motor Industry (WMMI).
By that time, the letter and enclosed cheque were misdirected to businessman Obert Mpofu, who later became a politician. Mpofu is the current Transport and Infrastructural Development minister.
Mpofu was mystified as to why he would be entitled to a rebate from the WMMI assembly plant for a car he had not ordered.
He was also not entitled to buy the vehicle on relaxed terms as he was not yet a government official back then.
In the letter, Mpofu reportedly noticed that both items were actually not meant for his office, but were meant for one A Mpofu.
This other Mpofu later turned out to be an employee of a leading Bulawayo businessman, who was neck-deep in shady deals with many prominent politicians.
As the events unfolded, the letter eventually found its way to a local newspaper, The Chronicle, which then broke the story under a screaming headline: Cars Racket, and the story had a huge impact throughout Africa.
President Robert Mugabe immediately instituted an inquiry into the matter by appointing the Sandura Commission of inquiry to get to the bottom of the matter at WMMI.
The findings by the three-member commission led by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Wilson Sandura led to the resignations from government of some Cabinet ministers.
PROMINENT MINISTERS FINGERED
Prominent among them was current Zimbabwean Ambassador to China Frederick Shava, Zanu PF Bulawayo provincial chair Callistus Ndlovu, the late Enos Nkala and Dzingai Mutumbuka among others while Political Affairs senior minister Maurice Nyagumbo reportedly committed suicide in shame and was declared a national hero.
The ministers, among others, were reportedly part of the scam that sowed the seeds of corruption, which pandemic the country would later struggle or rather fail to contain.
Mugabe, then, pledged to take action against the masterminds of the Willowgate Scandal.
NO ONE BROUGHT TO BOOK
As history will show, the Willowgate Scandal culprits were never brought to book, for reasons best known to the powers-that-be and by doing so, the government created an opportunity for other top officials to follow suit believing they would get the same protection their colleagues had enjoyed.
1987 — Ziscosteel Blast Furnace Scandal
1987 — Air Zimbabwe Fokker Plane Scandal — $100 million
1986 — National Railways Housing Scandal
1988 — Willowgate Scandal
1989 — ZRP Santana Scandal
1994 — War Victims Compensation Scandal
1995 — GMB Grain Scandal
1996 — VIP Housing Scandal
1998 — Boka Banking Scandal
1998 — ZESA YTL Soltran Scandal
1998 — Telecel Scandal
NOTABLE CORRUPTION CASES SINCE 1987
1998 — Harare City Council Refuse Tender Scandal
1999 — Housing Loan Scandal
1999 — Noczim Scandal
1999 — DRC timber and diamond UN-reported scandals
1999 — GMB Scandal
1999 — Ministry of Water and Rural Development Chinese Tender Scandal
1999 — VIP Land Grab Scandal
2001 — Harare Airport Scandal
What a complete bloody idiot who takes us all for dummies. You should write a book POLITICS FOR DUMMIES , you clown.
Yeh right Chinamasa, and eating figs causes constipation
…and this the Finance Minister, what an embarrassment!
No wonder we are not getting anywhere, what an idiot…
Chinamasa is a waste of time. In some articles he has been described as a genius in his own right. I never seem to understand why.
Probably the worst finance minister Zimbabwe ever had, or maybe the world has ever had.