via Crisis Coalition says corruption fight has lost lustre | The Zimbabwean 27.05.14 by Sofia Mapuranga
Government’s failure to deal with corrupt public officials shows lack of political will and has discredited its purported anti-graft fight, says Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC).
Numerous exposes from the beginning of the year have indicated that corruption is rife in government, parastatal and municipal offices, but not much has been done to bring the culprits to book.
CiZC spokesperson, Thabani Nyoni, said government was not committed to fighting the scourge as shown by its failure to address institutional corruption.
“The corruption fight has lost its lustre. Government does not have the capacity to deal with the problem (because it is has been insitutionalised),” Nyoni told The Zimbabwean, and accused the State of indifference in the wake of corruption exposes.
Referring to the a vehicle scandal in the late 1980s when government ministers and senior officials bought cars at low prices and profiteered by reselling them—the Willowgate scandal—after which a commission of inquiry was instituted but the subsequent report kept under wraps, Nyoni said government had never been willing to effectively tackle corruption head on.
“The first scandals in 1988 and 1989 resulted in a Commission that came up with a report containing recommendations. That report never saw the light of day although it was supposed to be in the public domain,” he said.
Nyoni warned that corruption would escalate unless government found means of fighting it at the institutional level.
“The challenge with our systems in Zimbabwe is that we tend to focus too much on individuals and not on the systems,” said Nyoni.
He cited the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation as an example and said the Chief Executive Officer, Happison Muchechetere worked in cahoots with the organisation’s board and the whole company was supposed to be investigated.
“Was he a one man band? It is surprising that people can be talking about him and leaving out members of the board who approved his salary,” he said.
Muchechetere was reported to have earned more than $40,000 a month at a time most of the staffers at the public broadcaster went for months without salaries.
He is currently being prosecuted for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for a broadcasting van.
COMMENTS
Mugabe must be investigated for corruption.Fish rots from the head.
Oh Oh you hit the nail right on the head!
I believe the time for talking or commenting has passed. Organisations like CCZ must look into what legal options exist to pursue these thieves ourselves. In addition they should look towards advising members of the PSMAS on how to institute legal action. They should seek to involve ordinary citizens to a greater extent and initiate signing of petitions by Zimbabweans from all walks of life who had enough of this government’s collusion. Just food for thought as there must be others with even better ideas out there. Let’s act!!
Its the same as the head of the Mafia denouncing graft, prostitution and drugs dealing.
That is the last thing one can expect from the government of Zanu, corruption to them is as natural as breathing. They are slaves of their nature…..thieving
The fight against corruption never existed, because its existence would kill Zim-CORRUPTION required essentially in the implementation of the ZIMASSET programme/project.
Enough said find the Loot all the bank accounts abroad etc. get al l the bills from the hospital in singapore..
As long as the investigations are conducted inside with only locals it will never work
ko mbavha dzacho dzinozvizivaka kuti hapana zviripo zizi harina nyanga.
True those people who are members of the PSMAS must take it to court and have all their contributions refunded and now with interest.
When the exposures were made a lot of us said we have to wait and see. We knew exactly what we were talking about. Who will police the Police? If Zimbabwe is fortunate enough to get some fresh Politicians and a leader who is not stained he or she would have to look for professionals in the field to weed out the corruption. For example 1) former BSAP or ZRP officers that were forced out because the did not want to dance to the corruption tune. 2) Religious leaders who have been a thorn in the flesh of Zanu pf. 3) Woza. 4) Human rights Lawyers who have fought this illegal system for years. Retire army Officers that retired because the would not hate their people. Ex combatants from Zanu and Zapu that refused to join with the Chinotimbas and Sibandas.
The is no way that the Jonathon Moyos of Zimbabwe will weed out this scourge. If you want to get rid of weeds you pull out the roots. Moyo has become one of those roots. It was all just a matter of using a lawn mower and it all looks good until the weeds sprout through the lawn again and look so ugly.