Editorial Comment
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has subtly conceded that the people around him, who include his top ally and adviser Kudakwashe Tagwirei and nephew Tarisai Mnangagwa are some of the biggest culprits in collapsing the economy by undermining the local currency.
Addressing a group of Zanu PF supporters on Saturday night in New York where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly, Mnangagwa, said his decision to freeze bank accounts of companies implicated in collapsing the local currency showed that he was “smarter” than those “smart”.
“On the monetary side, yes, we introduced one currency. For six or eight weeks, it remained stable, but then our people are very intelligent. We have people who find ways to fight that and undermine (the currency), but yesterday we also became smarter than their being smart, so we took some action,” Mnangagwa said.
On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Financial Intelligence Unit ordered banks to freeze accounts for Tagwirei’s Sakunda Holdings, Spartan Security owned by Mnangagwa’s nephew Tarisai, Croco Motors owned by Moses Chingwena and Access Finance.
Tagwirei is the command agriculture benefactor who has just received a new contract to provide technical services for the 2019/20 agricultural season. A top ally of Mnangagwa and his deputy, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, Tagwirei was in June appointed to the 26-member Presidential Advisory Council (PAC).
Tarisai was part of the people that helped Mnangagwa to escape to South Africa after he was fired by the late former President Robert Mugabe in 2017.
For the two years Mnangagwa has been in power, observers had claimed his effort to clamp down on corruption had been hindered by the fact that he was surrounded by corrupt people, an allegation denied by the ruling Zanu PF party.
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Several top officials have been arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) on allegations of corruption and names of big companies whose accounts were frozen were a conspicuous presence on Zanu PF youths’ name and shame list.
This was despite earlier claims by former youth leader William “Acie Lumumba” Mutumanje that Tagwirei was the most corrupt businessman who was sabotaging the country. Similar claims were made by Mnangagwa’s adviser Christopher Mutsvangwa, but no action was taken against the command agriculture benefactor.By freezing the accounts, Mnangagwa said, his government had blocked further collapse of the local currency.
“We have now arrested the galloping rate, which had gone up to about 20, 23, and 24. By the time we left it had come down to about 15 and it’s still coming down, because we had put up some measures,” Mnangagwa said.
“(RBZ) Governor (John Mangudya) was not there. He has just come from East Africa, but I am sure your colleague (Finance minister Mthuli Ncube) must have briefed you by now, what actions we have taken,” Mnangagwa said.
Zimbabwe needs drastic action against corruption and the corrupt.Offenders must be seen being punished for their crimes. It is clear that some people close to the President are sabotaging his efforts to revive the economy and steer the country in a certain direction. This cannot be allowed to go on unchecked and if the anti-corruption crusade is real, culprits must be brought to book.
Zacc cannot be seen to be acting on command, but must be proactive and at the forefront of investigations. This will build confidence that the country is in the right track and that this administration understands the key issues and is doing something about it.
