adminMuchadura Dube
THE nation is unanimous in its approach to this cancer, corruption that is bedevilling our society. This has cost the nation unquantifiable economic damage and social malaise which has the net effect of derailing envisaged economic upturn. A close introspection at the problems bedevilling the whole continent of Africa will unearth that corruption has inflicted unbearable pain to billions that reside in this society which holds so much promise and yet so little is achieved. Corruption is a complex phenomenon which assumes a two-way dimension as it involves the inducer and the recipient who are all equally culpable in its execution.
It is therefore a two-way traffic which if not attended to has the potential to destabilise the already fragile social fabric of the continent and the country. With the multiple legal loopholes which exist in the legal framework of the country, numerous criminals have been left to room the streets and yet their rightful places should be jails where their errant misdemeanours condemns them.
If something is wrong with our constitution, then there is need for it to be overhauled to enable it to curb this rot, which perpetual perpetrators of corruption have unleashed on our society.
Imagine a whole generation’s entire livelihood being consumed by one greedy individual who steal and plunder resources meant for the majority just to satisfy his ego and personnel whims. In most instances, such diabolic individuals will be using their societal connections to eat and quench their insatiable appetite on behalf of the majority.
Let us examine the numerous corruption cases which caught the entire nation’s imagination and yet ended up exposing the numeral legal flaws which then legislature has to amend if the nation is to win the war against the criminal elements in our society.
There are numerous big wigs out there who are accused of corruption, yet they are currently in the comfort of their homes.
Zimbabweans are perplexed as to why individuals of that nature of whatever stations in society are enjoying freedom, yet they should be languishing in jails for such crimes against the common people who should derive their existence and survival from such national wealth, which these selfish individuals would have plundered.
There are some rogue elements amidst us who have mastered the art of looting and plundering to the extent that if law enforcements agents are not alert, this rot will bring the nation to its knees.
Imagine a single person taking home a staggering half a million pay cheque in a country reeling under a ruinous embargo which has deprived the nation of billions of potential monetary inflows? If this is not daylight corruption, which stinks to the high heaven, then nothing else will ever be classified as corruption tendencies.
Whoever authorised such incredible salaries should be held to account by the State. Whoever received such obscene salaries should also be taken to account.
What were they thinking of when they awarded such abnormal salaries, that kind of money being derived from poor civil servants’ salaries who would have toiled for the whole month, only to have their meagre savings on their health being squandered by criminals masquerading as corporate executives.
The only place where individuals with such mercenary tendencies should be kept is Chikurubi Maximum security prison. They should rot and be confined there for a lifetime.
If this is not happening as is the case now, then something is missing within our legal statutes which allow fraudsters and economic saboteurs to room freely in the country’s streets, yet they should be having jail time.
Zimbabwe has enough natural resources to benefit everyone who resides in it, had it not been for a few rapacious individuals who have taken it upon themselves to consume on behalf of the majority. Add such callous tendencies to the economic sanctions, which afflict Zimbabwe today.
Zimbabwe needs patriotic people who care for each by employing responsible behaviour each time they handle national resource. It should be underscored that the country is not against people who get rich in an honest manner and who uphold national ethics. It is not a crime in our national ethics and generally in our culture to get rich but it is the manner in which one acquires his/her wealth, which matters most
The phenomenon of corruption is also seen in the wildlife sector where poachers who continue to haunt the nation’s national parks have purged the country’s wildlife.
The country’s elephants and the famous lion, Cecil were killed after some elements within our society connived with either local poachers or foreign poachers to slaughter these elephants in order for them to collect the tusk which have a ready market especially in Asia.
Isn’t it all of use’s national duty and pride to ensure such critical tourist resources such as elephants and lions are safeguarded jealously to ensure that their collective worth is enjoyed by all Zimbabweans.
Then one gets shocked when a few reporters who have exercised their patriotic duty to deter would be perpetrators are allegedly arrested on spurious accounts of failure to disclose their sources of news.
Instead those who enforce the law in their diversity should persue the poachers, leaving those of the Fourth Estate to continue to deter and even expose those who are behind these hideous syndicate that have seen hundreds of the nation’s jumbos being senselessly slaughtered. One would ask if these reporters were arrested for their attempt to deter and disclose these enemies of the nation.
There are those who continue to import and export using dubious means and undesignated points at the nations’ long border points. This is another corruption syndicate which deprives the nation of the much needed revenue was business people evade paying duty for imported and/exported goods.
The nation has to be on high alert to save the current scenario where national wealth is a prerogative of a few rich elite who use their financial muscle to deprive the rest. If such a scenario is left unchecked, a vicious circle of unrepentant vultures will run the entire economy to its knees with overall outcome being social unrest.
The evil of corruption has to be nipped in the bud to unlock value, which apparently exist in our people. It needs the cooperation of all the relevant stakeholders in the society for such a noble exercise to be a success. Muchadura Dube is a Nyanga-based farmer and political analyst
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