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Youths, vendors join anti-corruption fight

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VENDORS and activists have joined the anti-graft fight spearheaded by suspended Zanu PF youth league leaders, Godfrey Tsenengamu and Lewis Matutu, vowing to take the fight to corrupt officials’ doorsteps while pursuing the private prosecution route.

VENDORS and activists have joined the anti-graft fight spearheaded by suspended Zanu PF youth league leaders, Godfrey Tsenengamu and Lewis Matutu, vowing to take the fight to corrupt officials’ doorsteps while pursuing the private prosecution route.

BY MOSES MATENGA

The activists and vendors on Thursday met with other stakeholders, including some churches in Harare at the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Citizens summit where they vowed to fight graft, adding a decision will soon be made on protests.

Tsenengamu, the national co-ordinator of the programe, said there was appetite from the citizens to go into the streets and protest against corruption, but said the way forward would be a collective decision.

“Some say let us go into the streets, let us demonstrate and we are going to leave it the council to agree on modalities on a plan of action going forward,” he said.

Activist Lynnette Mudehwe said it was now time for youths to wage a war against corruption, threatening to take the war to the doorsteps of corrupt elements and institutions said to be defending graft. “We are a generation with a mandate to continue the struggle. Every generation has its war it has to fight and ours is that of economic revolution. What are we going to do to fight poverty that is everywhere? We have identified corruption as our enemy as a country,” Mudehwe said.

She said it was worrying that those who speak against corruption are fired, in apparent reference to the suspension of Tsenengamu and former Zanu PF deputy youth league secretary Lewis Matutu and the demotion of politburo member and youth league secretary Pupurai Togarepi.

“Our present and future is affected by corruption and we will now be bringing the fight to your doorsteps. We are a people’s project so every Zimbabwean who is affected by corruption is welcome on board.”

“We are going to be using private prosecutors as a way to fight, we will have toll free lines for people to report corruption. We have lawyers willing to help us in this fight,” Mudehwe said.

National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe leader Sterndrick Zvorwadza said: “The fight should not be taken lightly and anyone who thinks it must not be fought is an enemy. Authorities must tell us where vendors’ wares were taken to from 2013 to 2020. We have lost millions of dollars in cash, properties and products sold by the vendors and we need to know where they were taken to.”