Of leadership, corruption

Reason Wafawarova: Correspondent

Corruption is probably as old as humanity itself. It is widely regarded as a worldwide phenomenon that has been with every society from time immemorial. From a scholarly perspective corruption has various definitions, depending on the nature of the corruption in question. There is no second-guessing that corruption is the bane of political and economic problems in Zimbabwe today. We cannot deny that corruption has stagnated development in the country, much as factors like economic sanctions cannot be brushed aside. The effect of sanctions is undeniable.We must understand that a country that condones corruption has no moral right to blame external factors for its predicament. How does a corrupt Minister posture as a warlord against Western imposed sanctions without making a huge fool of himself?

I hear new Norton MP Temba Mliswa wants to regularise the politicised land offers in Norton, and that he is working with those who promised the land in exchange for votes to ensure that the campaign promise is not broken.

The man wants the election promises of the losers honoured ahead of the promises he made to his own voters, the winners. This is either a genuine extension of a reconciliatory hand, or an extension of a begging hand right into corruption coffers. Looking at Mliswa and Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere’s smiling faces in a picture posted braggingly by Prof Jonathan Moyo, one gets a message of notorious mischief. The two gentlemen have a shared history of corruption controversy, and they know it.

We are a country besieged with numerous political, social, and economic vices, and it is all because we collectively condone corruption.

Corruption by definition is an action that deviates from the formal rules of conduct that govern someone who is in a position of public or private authority. The majority of our private and public office holders have at one point or other abused wealth, power, or status for selfish gain. Corruption is the perversion of state affairs.

Every single day someone in Government wakes up to change the structure of statutes and regulations to produce dishonest and defiled situations. A Cabinet Minister wakes up to make ludicrous claims that he has a mandate to syphon public funds and do whatever he likes with them, like purchase of bicycles to give to people of his choice, as his personal discretion might lead him.

Let us face reality as a nation. Corruption has become a systematic vice in our society, reflecting nepotism, favouritism, tribalism, abuse of office, undue enrichment, self-aggrandisement, amassing of wealth, and derivation of undue gains and benefits.

What Zimbabweans are scared of at the moment is not the introduction of a local currency, whether in bond or bill form. They are afraid of money laundering, of a fraudulent leadership capable of running away with their life’s savings.

There is nothing unique about corruption as a global scourge affecting Zimbabwe, but our problem in Zimbabwe is that it has become a mode of behaviour tolerated and accepted by people who should stem it. Unless and until there is a political game brewing in Zanu-PF, the chances of being caught or being subjected to punishment for corruption are always minimal.

The exposed ones will argue that they are being victimised or being selectively prosecuted, and their cases will just naturally get weaker and weaker until all fizzles out into mass frustrations for the people.

We must look at corruption as the Great Satan that has stunted change, economic growth, and poverty reduction.

We have overlooked observance of the rule of law, and this is why corruption has become endemic. We have sidelined social, political, and economic rules and we have elevated people to become our law.

We have to start by zero tolerance to petty corruption. Then we have to make sure that all merits of corruption cases are observed ahead of any legal technicalities.

Now we have people avoiding court hearings on the basis of technicalities. Indeed procedure must be adhered to, but it must be made clear that a bungled procedure does not make a guilty man innocent.

We have to come to a point where the public will police the police, manhandling those corrupt police officers who demand bribes, and exposing those officials who demand payment for tasks they perform as part of their duties.

Now our children see corruption as a facet of life, and that is unacceptable. Our institutions have lost legitimacy, even the police force and the Judiciary. Our legal system is no longer effective, with corrupt prosecutors, magistrates, and judges.

Our accounting officers now view their apex positions as God-given opportunities to loot, and the Cabinet Ministers presiding over them have become crime dons. We have a widening gap between the Government and our people. Our Government officials and our leaders have made this conscious decision to deliberately divert national resources from the satisfaction of the general interest to that of personal interest.

We look back at the fall of colonial empires and wonder what has happened to the selflessness, nationalism, and visionary leadership of founding fathers like Kwame Nkrumah, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Kenneth Kaunda and so on.

These are leaders who stand as beacons of the continent’s moral conscience.

Today we have rulers not leaders. They do not care about food production, employment creation, human capacity, or shelter for the homeless. Instead they invest in lavish lifestyles and military hardware. All they do is cause polarity, religious and tribal hostilities and divisions, especially among our illiterate populace.

There is no doubt we have a weak leadership across the continent today, and in Zimbabwe our leadership has failed to steer the society to a common national identity or to any sense of public good.

We can talk of the bungling in the indigenisation policy, the discord over bond notes, the confusion in the farming sector, and the list goes on. We have policies seemingly designed to mobilise the vote than for the public good.

It is worth noting that the direct costs of corruption are high in terms of funds diverted from the intended use and lost revenue. We have lost so much in agricultural production because of corrupt people who have no dignity to own up to the fact that they are too lazy to be successful farmers, and they hang on to large tracts of arable land without producing anything beneficial even to their own families, let alone to the nation.

Some inherited large farms with crops ready for harvesting, with large orchards and fruit plantations, only to ruin everything to nothingness in a couple of years.

The obvious impact of corruption is deepening poverty among the citizens of a country. It makes it difficult for ordinary people to reap the benefits of their own efforts. Researches indicate that the social and economic cost of corruption not only deter the poor but also those who have no power to resist demands of corrupt officials from accessing efficient services from the government.

It appears like we have a failing economy where a few elites want to be in control of State machinery in order to ensure that their political privileges are protected.

This is the epitome of corruption, and we have to free our country from the grip of a corrupt few people.

We need to commit to the fight against corruption. ZACC is not an extension of ZANU-PF, and it is not a political organisation. It is a State commission mandated to deal with matters of corruption, and as such must be allowed to investigate and bring to book miscreants destroying our country through corruption.

Curbing corruption is a hard task; nevertheless, it is achievable. This is informed by the fact that many countries including the developed ones have trod the path. The secret behind the success of the industrialised countries is the institutionalisation and adherence to the rule of law.

The law must be supreme and it must be upheld by everyone, and only then will we be able to curb the scourge of corruption.

Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!

Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in Sydney, Australia.