Chronicle Editor
Vincent Gono
RENEWED calls by President Mnangagwa for Zimbabweans to put a halt to all forms of corrupt activities — to walk the straight and narrow should be heeded by all progressive citizens if the country is to emerge from the murky economic waters.
Following the resignation of members of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), Parliament on Thursday commenced the process of reconstituting the commission by calling for nominations to be made.
The country expects to see a commission that will at least give some positive results that blend in with the President’s vision of getting the country on a sound economic trajectory. Corrupt currency dealings, money laundering, abuse of office, demanding bribes, general mendacity and all other forms of graft have characterised the country’s economy spelling more misery and pain to the ordinary person, the unemployed and those that are honest.
The President’s pronunciation that there is an intricate network of currency speculators mostly in high places and in places of trust is evidence that he is aware of the goings on and is grounded in the truth and the troubles of the people. Corruption has been threatening not only the remaining vestiges of the country’s socio-economic order but has tattered its moral fibre leaving it threadbare and causing a severe economic retrogression whose effects are seismic and felt by many.
Corruption has become cancerous in both the private and public sectors of the country with politicians not spared by the rot either. It has become rampant, almost embedded and an accepted way of life for the Zimbabwean society. The extent to which it has spread is such that it can be engaged in openly despite the known legal consequences that have rarely been effected, making it look very petty especially in most Government departments where people expect to get kickbacks for a job they are employed to do.
Prosecutor General Mr Kumbirai Hodzi said they were going to act decisively on corruption cases, “Certainly, you are going to see high-profile cases being prosecuted. The public demands that and we demand that at the end of the day. The whole anti-corruption thrust, which has captured the imagination of the people, and what the President has said both at his first inauguration and when he ushered in the Second Republic was that the fight against corruption is going to be central to economic recovery.
“Frankly speaking, people are tired, people know very well that it is corruption which is causing things like potholes on the roads, shortages of goods, and it has to do with these corrupt syndicates. People are not fools, they want to see justice and corruption is going to be dealt with decisively and dismantled.
People will be arrested and more will be brought before the courts soon,” warned Mr Hodzi.
The economic dangers of corruption no matter how small are so many. According to a market brief by the African Development Bank, corrupt practices distort markets and stifle economic growth and sustainable development including robbing countries of critically needed resources.
It reduces efficiency and increases social inequality while capital has a strong tendency of shying away from risky markets where corruption is rampant. The increase in corruption cases in Zimbabwe has been repelling foreign direct investment which Zimbabwe so much needed to turn around its economy with allegations that government and public sector bureaucrats are demanding bribes if an investor is to gain entry into certain sectors of the country’s economy.
This has an adverse effect of increasing the cost of doing business in the country thus frustrating and turning away investors in the process. As a result of damning reports of corruption, the competitiveness of Zimbabwe in attracting foreign direct investment is seriously compromised as foreign investors make use of global corruption indexes before they decide on where to invest.
Zimbabwe has been performing obscenely on the global corruption index while ZACC has often been referred to as a toothless barking bulldog as it has always been compromised and failing to prosecute politicians as a culture of impunity became serious.
President Mnangagwa has however, pledged seriousness in dealing effectively with cases of corruption without fear or favour and without respecting political office.
“Reports and submissions before me on illicit currency dealings point to an intricate network of currency speculators mostly in high places and in places of trust. In a number of cases which have now been brought to Government’s attention, some of our guardians of the financial services sector have either not discharged their roles fully, or have not done so honestly,” said President Mnangagwa.
His committed voice is expected to add impetus in dealing a death blow to corruption and break the syndicates oiling corruption in the country. There however, seems to be a deep-seated culture of impunity that is stubbornly being perpetuated by some in high places that is hurting and thinning the moral fibre while excessively bleeding the national economy.
People are demanding a departure from the previous Government where the law was bended and applied selectively, where it became apparent that arrest and prosecution was reserved for the poor and not connected citizens while those with fat pockets could easily buy their freedom.
It was an era where law was twisted and taught to know and respect certain faces while those that were mandated to ensure the law was adhered to were compromised and even entangled directly or indirectly in the web of corruption, where the rot in the Government was now stinking high and wide and could no longer be concealed. What made it more nauseating was that those who were fingered in corruption even with glaring evidence were immune to prosecution.
It was a system that had become so rotten at the core and where the centre could no longer hold, a system that glorified corruption. Political commentator and philosophy scholar Mr Jowere Mukusha submits that corruption is both a product and cause of poor governance and weak institutions, adding that it is one of the major costs and impediments to structural transformation in the country.
He said corruption in Zimbabwe was a phenomenon that was closely linked to poor society and argued that pressure to reduce corruption and move towards good governance was both necessary and desirable, but that those ends could not be achieved unless attention was also given to other governance capacities required for accelerating and sustaining growth.
Mr Mukusha contends that corruption cannot be addressed without considering broader governance challenges and argued that it exhibits unique characteristics in small economies.
“There is need for serious political will in the fight against corruption in the country without which all the platforms to discuss it will remain talk shows without practical results to show for them. I am however, encouraged by the stance of Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa who has declared its zero tolerance on corruption. It is my hope that the verve does not fizzle out and will result in sustainable economic growth.
“The need to end corruption dovetails and feed into the re-engagement and the ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra that the country has been vigorously pursuing and popularising. It should never be the President’s fight alone but should be a serious signal of the trajectory that the country is pursuing,” said Mr Mukusha.
He said the Government should never dither in its fight against corruption and the culture of impunity to corruption that contributed significantly to the buckling of the country’s economy but should walk the talk and maintain the flick of hope in the minds of many.
derick.khumalo