By Paidamoyo Muzulu
ZIMBABWE public officials have no shame, pride or integrity. They lie as they breathe and still get away with it because no one holds them accountable. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare their shenanigans.
The COVID-19 pandemic was declared a world public health emergency. No country was ready for it and most countries responded in what they believed to be their best efforts. Some leaders like Tanzania’s late John Magufuli were denialists or indifferent to the pandemic, while Zimbabwe leader President Emmerson Mnangagwa was scared witless and immediately imposed a national lockdown.
In the near-panic frenzy, public officials in Zimbabwe used the emergency to make a quick buck through procurement of personal protective equipment. Because this was an emergency, there was no public tenders and procurement processes were circumvented.
Two high-profile people arrested for the grand theft were Health minister Obadiah Moyo and alleged networked fraudster Delish Nguwaya. It is important to note that both are currently out of custody on bail and the prosecution, for now, seems in no hurry to conclude the case.
Both cases stink to high heavens and involve names to the highest office in the land. With straight faces, they all deny the allegations. However, the fact remains — some of the deals required Cabinet approval or at minimum, Treasury concurrence. Both ways, there are some senior officials culpable and a trial would expose them.
For now, the media — mainstream media — has refrained from setting an accountability agenda particularly on the Treasury. Treasury boss Mthuli Ncube has been allowed to get away with lies.
Initially, Ncube said Treasury had set aside $600 million for the social safety nets and a tidy sum of $18 billion as bailout for industry.
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Interesting enough, no serious scrutiny of these resources’ deployment has been done. It remains a mystery how many poor people benefited from the cash-transfer scheme or which companies had access to the cheap bailout finances.
It should be remembered these funds were released with them being appropriated. Parliamentarians, like the public, learnt of these numbers from the media. Ncube, true to the Zanu PF ethos, had dipped his hands into the unallocated reserves. Auditor-General Mildred Chiri has since blown a whistle on such conduct. Ncube is still to steer Financial Adjustment Bill 2019 in Parliament to authorise expenditure of US$10,2 billion without being appropriated.
In simple terms, government was being rogue, it raped the Constitution and got away with it. No one was censured and no one took responsibility for the mess. There was muffled, if not perfunctory, demands for accountability in Parliament. No one dared make the link between Treasury delinquency and existing poverty or underdevelopment.
Ncube, in an interview with Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa, told Zimbabweans Treasury had US$100 million for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. The minister said it with conviction that the money was there and ring-fenced. However, Parirenyatwa did not ask how many vaccines could be bought from that amount and from which countries? I’m not sure whether it was deliberate or an oversight, but I’m certain it gave Ncube room to wriggle out of scrutiny.
Mnangagwa has said it openly that Zimbabwe is aiming to achieve a herd immunity, having 60% of adult population vaccinated. This is a staggering 10 million people. I say staggering because to achieve that, Zimbabwe needs 20 million doses of vaccines. So far, donated plus procured vaccines are still under two million doses.
This is a miniscule less than one in 10 of supposed numbers to be vaccinated. At this rate of procurement and vaccination, Zimbabwe can only achieve herd immunity in 2024 as predicted the Economist. Rich countries have placed orders far beyond their national needs, leaving developing countries at the back of the queue.
The United Kingdom seems set to reach its target to achieve herd immunity by June 21, a date that now some media refer to as Freedom Day. Calling it Freedom Day may sound as an exaggeration, but it is closer to reality because life would be back to nearly normal as known pre-COVID-19.
Mnangagwa, Ncube and Vice-President and Health minister Constantino Chiwenga have a responsibility to tell Zimbabweans their vaccination plan with specific timelines and targets. They should not be allowed to make thin policy statements as if they are addressing a rally. They have to show leadership and reassure the nation when we will get back to normal.
The rich have since gone back to normal. Many Zimbabweans will remember the image of Treasury secretary George Guvamatanga in a private jet flying to Victoria Falls with his family after recovering from COVID-19. Poor Zimbabweans then were under a hard lockdown and needed a pass to travel more than 5km from their residences.
Many will further remember pictures of Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa’s 60 years birthday bash. The bash was against the COVID-19 protocols. These examples are a microcosm of what the rich are doing while the poor can dream about life getting back to normal.
It is time that citizens demand public officials to have shame, pride and integrity. Many should do the honourable thing, apologise for their lies and resign from public office. Men and women of honour should step forward and offer leadership, clear strategies of getting out of mercy and not this business of muddling through.
- Paidamoyo Muzulu is a journalist based in Harare. He writes here in his personal capacity.
