The admission by Zanu PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo this week that his party colleagues are using ill-gotten wealth to buy votes ahead of next year’s elections was significant in a number of ways.
NewsDay Editorial
That Zanu PF is full of people who will struggle to explain the source of their wealth accumulated at a time when the country’s economy was on a downward spiral is no longer news.
Many of these officials, who are not ashamed to flaunt their obscene wealth amid the sea of poverty in this country, are career politicians who earn a very meagre government salary.
President Robert Mugabe has in the past revealed that he is aware of the extent of corruption in his party and the growing tendency to use money to influence intra-party struggles.
But Mugabe has never gone beyond threats to expose these charlatans who are using their positions of authority to amass wealth which they in turn use to entrench or expand their political influence.
Non-governmental organisations and commissions of inquiry set up by the government over the years have fingered several Zanu PF officials, including ministers, as drivers of corruption.
Despite the setting-up of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to deal with graft, none of these bigwigs have been netted.
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Khaya Moyo’s admission is significant in that it came at a time when the nation is demanding answers about Mugabe’s controversial $20 million Presidential Agriculture Inputs Scheme.
Zanu PF is also building a gigantic $6,5 million conference centre outside Gweru which it boasts will be the biggest in Africa and the party has failed to disclose the source of funds for that project.
Fellow citizens genuinely asking for answers such as Education, Sport and Culture minister David Coltart are met with snide remarks by Zanu PF’s attack dogs personified by Jonathan Moyo.
Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba launched an abusive tirade through the State media after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai waded into the controversial inputs scheme debate at the weekend.
Tsvangirai asked why Charamba’s boss had suddenly become a donor instead of ensuring relevant government departments have adequate funding to carry out their mandate.
The senior civil servant said the PM had no right to question Mugabe’s source of funds because the MDC-T leader “finds enough money to atone his carnal (sexual) excesses”.
However, Charamba had a preposterous explanation for the source of funds, saying the President carries a food hamper each time he embarks on his frequent foreign trips in order to make savings from travel and subsistence allowances.
Khaya Moyo’s outbursts, read together with the two extravagant projects, must be proof enough that Mugabe and his Zanu PF party are not sincere about eradicating corruption.
Do Zimbabweans need any further proof that the anti-corruption commission tends to turn a blind eye to corruption if driven by Zanu PF members? What more evidence does the commission need to act?
