Once again, the people of Zimbabwe are being taken for a ride. The pattern is familiar: A huge corruption scandal erupts. The media is awash with details of egregious corruption. The public reacts with huge waves of outrage. There is an air of excitement and anticipation that finally, something big is about to happen. Then a few days later, the tide begins to ebb. Slowly, but surely, it retreats until at some point, it’s all quiet again. The tide will come again in future and the pattern will be similar.
Two years ago, there was Salary-gate. Zimbabweans were shocked and horrified by the obscene wages and benefits that senior executives of public institutions such as PSMAS, ZBC and the Harare City Council were earning. Save for a few at the ZBC who are still being prosecuted for abuses, nothing has happened to the rest of the culprits who abused public funds. In fact, one of the culprits in the ZBC corruption scandal, Tazzen Mandizvidza, has since been given a top job by the national broadcaster. There was a lot of noise over those scandals, but ultimately, nothing of any serious significance has happened. Those who looted PSMAS and they include senior government officials, are still in their jobs, pretending it never happened.
In recent weeks, the media has been dominated by revelations of corruption at ZIMDEF, a fund established to support apprentices and college students on industrial attachment. Apparently, Ministers and public officers in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education have been abusing the fund. Although primary focus has been on the current Ministers – Moyo and his deputy, Gandawa – revelations in The Sunday Mail, the state weekly, indicate that the looting has been going on for a longer period.
That there has been improper conduct on the part of Ministers and public officers is apparent from the allegations. The defences that others have been doing it too, or that public funds were used to support the ruling party activities under the guise of ‘public programs’ cannot legally exonerate the Ministers and public officers. The transactions demonstrate misuse of public property and severe conflicts of interest to which the Ministers and public officers should never have exposed themselves.
Yet despite the existence of a strong prima facie case against the Ministers and public officers, going by precedent, this scandal is likely to go nowhere and the signs are already ominous. There are indications that once again politics has got in the way. Apparently, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), which has the constitutional mandate to fight corruption, has been stalled by the highest office in the land. Vice President Mphoko’s conduct corroborates this argument having stated publicly that Ministers could not be arrested without the approval of President Mugabe. His statements do not have any legal basis, but they demonstrate the extent to which politics has once again intervened to stifle the legal process.
But if politics is being used to stop ZACC from carrying out its constitutional mandate, it is also because ZACC is being used as a political instrument in a bitter family feud within ZANU PF. It is common cause that there is an on-going factional war in ZANU PF based around the succession question. Each faction has been using different weapons and platforms to outdo the other. The use of corruption scandals in factional wars is not new. It was used in 2014 when former Vice President Joice Mujuru and allies were kicked out of ZANU PF. Among the charges against them were that they were engaged in vast acts of corruption. People thought the alleged culprits would soon be arraigned before the courts. Yet nothing ever happened, even when Mujuru and company were without political power and vulnerable. The reason is that the corruption allegations had already fulfilled the political objective of the authors – to out-muscle Mujuru from the succession race.
If ZACC is really serious about its role, it would have long invoked its constitutional powers in the ZIMDEF case. Whether or not ZACC has the powers to arrest suspects is debatable. What is certain is that ZACC can recommend the arrest of citizens by police. It can also call upon the assistance of police, which assistance may include the arrest of suspects. More importantly, it has the power to direct police to investigate cases of corruption. Finally, it has the power to refer its case to the prosecuting authorities. It is therefore disingenuous for anyone or ZACC to say the suspect is evading questioning or arrest because they can go to court together with the police to get a warrant of arrest. The mere fact that ZACC has not invoked these powers is not because it does not know, because the powers are set out clearly in the Constitution. This failure is a big indictment on ZACC as a credible law enforcement body.
The fact of the matter is that the ZANU PF government has no interest in fighting corruption. As I have written before, mosquitoes will find a cure for malaria before ZANU PF becomes serious about tackling corruption. Corruption is the lifeblood of the ruling party. The use of public funds and public property is woven into the culture of ZANU PF politics. This is why when they are accused of corruption, ZANU PF politicians always invoke the argument that they were doing it for the party and that corruption allegations are designed to tarnish the party and government. They do not see anything wrong at all with their conduct because diversion of public funds for party and personal uses has been normalised within ZANU PF culture.
To be sure, Moyo is not the first person to use this ridiculous defence. In In June, when ZACC opened corruption investigations into several parastatals, including the ZBC, George Charamba, the Permanent Secretary for Information and Publicity and presidential spokesperson warned ZACC against proceeding in “haste” and charged that the investigations were designed to “impugn government”. Vice President Mphoko has also said ZACC’s actions in the ZIMDEF scandal are designed to undermining government. Back in 2014, when she was still speaking the language of ZANU PF, Joice Mujuru claimed that corruption allegations at PSMAS and ZBC were authored by enemies of the party and government. All different cases, but a common defence and explanation of corruption reflecting a culture that approves of and condones the misuse and abuse of public funds and public property.
The precedent of excusing corruption was set in the early years of independence. Back in 1989, when the Willogate scandal broke out, offenders escaped criminal sanctions. One senior Minister who was jailed for perjury after he lied to the commission that was investigating the scandal, Frederick Shava, was pardoned within 24 hours. He is the head of the Zimbabwean Mission at the United Nations in New York. There have been many other scandals since Willogate – the VIP Housing Scandal, the War Veterans Compensation Scandal, Airport scandal, the RBZ Farm Mechanisation Scheme are just but a few of many examples. When Harare City Council exposed corruption by the then Minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo, the investigating councillors were sacked and arrested.
The fact of the matter is that ZANU PF does not have the will to fight corruption. The ZIMDEF matter is just like all the rest before it and will go the same way.
But if ZANU PF lacks the will to fight corruption, why has the ZIMDEF scandal erupted? Like Salarygate in 2014, the ZIMDEF scandal is a political instrument against internal opponents. The pursuers are not motivated by justice but by political self-interest. If justice was a motivating factor, the likes of Samuel Undenge, the Energy Minister already implicated in corruption scandals at ZESA would also be under ZACC investigation. This is a fight between the Lacoste faction and G40, the factions vying to position themselves in the race to succeed Mugabe. Moyo is regarded as the biggest impediment in the way of Lacoste’s path to power. Lacoste has control of state media and probably ZACC. But ZACC’s failure to invoke its powers over the ZRP suggests that Lacoste has no confidence that the police will push the political agenda as effectively.
The ZIMDEF scandal has revealed appalling levels of corruption and impunity. Yet like all others before it, it is a mere pawn in a larger game of politics. Zimbabweans who are expecting something big to happen in the wake of the scandalous revelations will likely be disappointed once again. They will be disappointed because while they see this as a legal matter, the reality is that the politics overshadows the legalities. The irony is that while Moyo and G40 are on the receiving end of this scandal, if they had control of ZACC and state media, they would probably be doing the same thing to Lacoste. Zimbabweans would likewise be outraged by revelations of corruption and would probably be hoping that something big would also happen.
The truth is, ZANU PF has never been serious about corruption and it’s not about to start now, in the wake of the ZIMDEF scandal. Moyo and the various public officials implicated did what ZANU PF does every day. That they have been targeted on this occasion is to be explained by internal political feuding. Moyo and others did it to Mujuru in 2014. They have done it to the opposition parties in countless instances. Now they are the targets. Tomorrow it’s another set of political targets. Does it make Moyo and allies less responsible for their conduct? No. Not at all. In any normal country they would have resigned in shame and waited for their day in court. But Zimbabwe under ZANU PF is hardly a normal country. The bar is set at a very low level and mediocrity rules.
Moyo and allies will hold out, hoping to ride the wave, as others have done before them. A year ago, a senior civil servant Munesu Munodawafa was all over the news, accused of corruption over Air Zimbabwe’s corrupt insurance deal with a company called Navistar – another case of serious conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds. But this year, Munodawafa was released from remand. The zeal to prosecute him seems to have ebbed. The matter is unlikely to go far. He rode the wave.
The real victims here are the ordinary citizens – robbed by public officers and taken for a ride. When all is said and done, citizens must wake up to the reality that this is nothing more than a political feud within ZANU PF. Corruption is the least of their concern. This wave is already ebbing. Soon it will be quiet, until another wave emerges and the same pattern plays out more.
waMagaisa
wamagaisa@gmail.com
