Parastatals funding military Ops: Moyo

via Parastatals funding military Ops: Moyo 14/03/2014 by Staff Reporter NewZimbabwe

FORMER State Enterprises and Parastatals Minister, Gorden Moyo, has accused President Robert Mugabe of diverting scarce revenue generated by state entities to bankroll partisan military operations key to his political survival.

Moyo also said it was unlikely the veteran leader would sanction any prosecution against company bosses implicated in the current salary scandals.

“We have military components aligned to Zanu PF who are attached to the parastatals to make sure that government gets its resources via parastatals,” Moyo said at a panel discussion organised by Transparency International-Zimbabwe in Mutare Thursday.

“I have got it on record that over 2 000 young men and women from the army were being paid by the Grain Marketing Board during operation Maguta. “Government is working with parastatals to make sure that young people in the barracks are cushioned.”

The MDC-T legislator said any prosecution against the parastatal bosses by President Mugabe, was tantamount to “self-indictment”.

“Surely, the state enterprises are heavily militarised and the current government has been losing elections and has been getting the assistance of the army to stay in power.

“President Mugabe is being held hostage by those in power,” he said.

Moyo also accused his erstwhile colleagues in cabinet of assisting the plunder of the distressed firms.

But Moyo said the ministers were also part of the looting party and were the least expected to stop the looting of the state enterprises.

The MDC-T Bulawayo province chair said during his tenure as minister in charge of the 78 state firms, he furnished Mugabe with documentary proof his ministers were looting the companies but got no support from him.

“Ministers in cabinet are accomplices so how can they take action,” Moyo said. “I got a record and I told President Mugabe in a cabinet meeting that so and so got a vehicle from the ministry and another one from the parastatals but no action was taken.

Moyo challenged President Mugabe to set up a commission similar to the Sandura Commission in 1988 to smoke out criminal elements in his administration who are busy looting state entities and local authorities.

“Mugabe owes it to the public to act. He should set a Sandura-type of executive commission to investigate the 78 parastatals. The commission should report to the parliament not himself.”

Moyo also urged the strengthening of state organs such as the police, the judiciary and parliament to effectively tackle “institutionalised” corruption while lamenting what he said was the undermining of the Anti-Corruption Commission and Auditor general’s office.

Speaking at the same occasion, Centre for Natural Resources Governance director, Farai Maguwu said corruption in the country was a sign of clear leadership failure and called on Zanu PF to return to its 1984 Leadership Code which did not tolerate corruption.

On his part, Confederation of Zimbabwe (CZI) deputy president, Henry Nemaire, another panellists at the event, urged President Mugabe to stop feeding his patronage network by appointing competent managers to run state companies.