Zimbabweans should fight to stop looting, graft LAST year, South Africa’s Daily Maverick newspaper published a damning exposé on corruption in Zimbabwe.
The report, titled Cartel Power Dynamics in Zimbabwe, detailed off-the-books networks worth billions that deal in gold, diamonds, cigarettes, fuel and more.
In so doing, it provided some concrete answers to perennial questions: How is it that elite networks persist and even thrive when conditions for most Zimbabweans have been on a downward trajectory for decades, and how has a country so rich in natural resources and human capital become so poor?
It is not a surprise to learn that a powerful few are getting rich in Zimbabwe though offshoring much of their wealth.
From dodgy ownership structures that gave the top tier of the security services exclusive access to mining wealth to sole-source, inflated contracts for COVID-19 relief supplies, examples of high-level corruption have surfaced repeatedly over the years.
But last year’s revelations provided new details on the machinery of corruption, the enabling networks and middlemen that make it possible to continue squeezing wealth out of the country.
The real question was: What comes next? Can policymakers around the world find the will and the means to increase the cost of complicity in this looting, including for international actors facilitating this activity, be it in South Africa or the United Arab Emirates?
Can the Southern African Development Community concern itself with this fleecing of an entire country, and the complicity of Russian and Chinese firms in certain cartel activities, in the way it has zealously communicated concerns about the targeted sanctions that the United States applies to specific individuals and entities in Zimbabwe?
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Equally important, can Zimbabwean civil society find effective ways to convey the realities of these complex schemes so that a majority of their fellow citizens have the facts at their disposal, and can be better armed with information in efforts to hold their leaders accountable?
The success of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono’s song Dem Loot was an encouraging example of how this could happen.
The extraordinarily resilient people of Zimbabwe have never stopped working to defend the rule of law or working to build a more accountable system of governance.
They deserve access to the facts about how and why their country works for a few and fails so many.-Michelle Gavin
SA must revisit its Zim exemption permits decision ZIMBABWEANS in South Africa fear of an uncertain future when their permits expire after December 31, 2022.
South Africa has decided to end the permits project for Zimbabweans domiciled in that country and the immigrants will have to apply for permanent residency if they want to legalise their stay.
That will be a tall order, considering how South Africa is getting rid of foreigners, particularly Zimbabweans, who they accuse of being behind a spate of criminal activities in that country.
But it is only a fraction of Zimbabweans in that country who are committing crime.
Many have been working hard to fend for their children and extended families back home.
Catherine is currently in remission, but fears for her life.
Gladys says she has sleepless nights because she does not even have a home in Zimbabwe.
Others like Kelvin Chunyemba are worried about what this decision means for their children.
The main issue is about children who are going to school. Some are already at a higher level, so changing them to a new different curriculum is a big obstacle.
Banks in South Africa are threatening to freeze accounts for Zimbabweans. It’s all a mess.
As many activists and ordinary people affected by this decision will tell you, government’s processes make applying for another permit difficult and sometimes almost impossible.
People like Obey Shana want to comply with government’s decision, but believe a grace period of one year does not give them enough time to sort out their lives, to either return to Zimbabwe or to apply for the necessary documentation in South Africa.
What further stood out in probing the impact of South Africa’s decision to end the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits was the fear among ordinary Zimbabweans of being identified.
They are worried that they will fall victim to movements like Operation Dudula, who have been emboldened in their xenophobia by government’s decision.
With just four months to go until the permit is cancelled, tens of thousands of Zimbabweans will no longer be welcome in South Africa and their lives will be turned upside down again.
In the spirit of ubuntu, the Cyril Ramaphosa government should all be ashamed.-Qaanitah Hunter
Reform the police force IT is not the police’s responsibility to convict citizens. The police are not the law, neither are they the courts.
They should be the custodian of the law, simple. It must be the duty of the court of law in the land as per the Constitution to prosecute offenders.
We are now back to the late former President Robert Mugabe’s era, when we used to see all these many countless roadblocks all over the country, not for crime prevention, but just there as a source of revenue for the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and its members.
Motorists should be allowed the option to go to court if they have committed a traffic offence, but it is not the case right now, as they are being forced to pay spot fines.
We always notice the wanton disregard of the Constitution on a daily basis by our police force.
Inasmuch as the ZRP needs the revenue, it is not fair to milk the already burdened and suffering Zimbabweans this way.
The police, under this new republic, seems to be also aligned to a certain party. It is partisan.
This is even spilling to the Judiciary, which has been captured by the ruling Zanu PF party.
Last week when opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa was holding a rally at Mucheke Stadium in Masvingo, there were reports that a number of vehicles from as far as Chivi and Zvishavane that had carried supporters to the venue were briefly impounded by the police.
It is now like all the police or State resources are now being channelled to suppress and frustrate the opposition than preventing crime in society.
Most roads leading to Mucheke Stadium were reportedly cordoned off by the police, making it difficult for CCC supporters to access the venue.
It is now clear that Zanu PF is running scared and using unorthodox means and State machinery to stop and demoralise the opposition from achieving its goals.
The ZRP has ceased to be a national police force and has become an arm of Zanu PF.
Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga has lost it. It is time to reshuffle and reform the police force.
The ruling party thinks it is scoring goals and points, but all this is making the citizens get even much stronger, it is a phase which will eventually come to pass.
It is out of this world that a Zanu PF chairman has the guts to write a letter to ZRP instructing them to stop a CCC rally in Masvingo.
On another note, Isau Mupfumi, another Zanu PF legislator, reported a fellow party member to the police CID Law and Order section for saying Mugabe was much better than President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Such abuse of State powers has become so prevalent in this so-called new dispensation. Surely we can do better than this.-Leonard Koni
