adminTemba Dube Senior Reporter
CROSS-PARTY political will is an indispensable necessity to win the war against corruption, Information Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said yesterday.The minister has been outspoken on corruption bedevilling parastatals, state enterprises and local authorities, which saw some CEOs walking home with as much as $500,000 every month, in a country where teachers and nurses are paid below $400.
Speaking at the inaugural Zimbabwe Accountants Conference themed ‘Learning from the Past, Building the Future’ held in Harare yesterday, Prof Moyo said they had been disturbing attempts to create a smokescreen to protect individuals engaging in corruption by portraying them as victims of political plots.
“The all too important truth is that when everything has been done and said, what is needed the most is the broad-based political will to fight corruption,” he said.
He added: “There’ve been notable and rather worrying political attempts to derail the fight against corruption under the cover of political excuses designed to create confusion by giving the false impression that individuals who’ve been fingered in corrupt acts are victims of some political intrigues and machinations of their real or perceived rivals or enemies.”
He also dismissed opposition claims that Zanu-PF was insincere in its fight against corruption because some senior government officials fingered in sleazy deals were not punished in the past.
Said Prof Moyo: “Of late, there’ve been spooky attempts to resort to historical disinformation with vexatious claims that nothing will or can be done to fight corruption, ostensibly because there’s a litany of past cases that have gone unpunished. Yet it doesn’t follow that because we failed yesterday, we will fail today or tomorrow.”
He said the government should be deliberate and thorough in tackling corruption, and prosecuting those found to have done wrong, warning that “any fight against corruption which happens overnight as a finger-pointing exercise or as a witch hunt in pursuit of political ambitions is doomed to fail.”
He went on: “The fight against corruption must be professionally grounded, evidence-based, evidence-led and in accordance with the due process of the law.
“Fortunately, the fact is that there’s a lot of evidence all around us that our country is learning from its past and is drawing better alternatives that are promising to improve the livelihoods of ordinary Zimbabweans by doing things better, with integrity and in a much more honest way.”
Prof Moyo told delegates to the conference that he felt the theme: ‘Learning from the Past, Building the Future’ should be adopted by every citizen in the fight to eradicate corruption.
He said the political polarisation experienced in the last 15 years which nearly paralysed government ended after the 2013 harmonised elections in which Zanu-PF got a resounding mandate, adding: “Our country has very bright prospects. We’ve an opportunity to build a better future but only if we’re willing and able to draw lessons from the past without prejudice.”
The minister emphasised that the vigilant deployment of the skills of public accountants and auditors in Zimbabwe is “particularly relevant, important, urgent and necessary” today in the fight against the scourge of corruption that has gripped the country’s 78 state enterprises and 92 local authorities.
He noted that that corruption is against the fundamental of good governance which is one of the nine founding values and principles of Zimbabwe’s new Constitution.
He said: “Parastatals and state enterprises are critical players in our economy. About 60 percent of the economy is driven by parastatals and state enterprises and they used to contribute at least 40 percent of Zimbabwe’s GDP. Now that is down to zero!”
Online Reporter