THE withholding of the Justice Tendai Uchena Commission of Inquiry report is no longer just an administrative delay.
As things stand, it is evolving into a direct assault on transparency, accountability and the rule of law.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered the report’s publication following a High Court ruling, which declared its secrecy unconstitutional. The judgment clearly argued that Zimbabweans have a constitutional right to access information.
This is especially so with regards to information linked to the abuse of public land and the possible looting of billions of dollars in State assets.
Yet the report remains hidden.
That raises deeply troubling questions. Who is blocking its release? Who has the authority to frustrate both a presidential directive and a binding court order? More importantly, what exactly is contained in the report that powerful interests are so desperate to conceal?
The Uchena Commission investigated the illegal allocation and sale of State land since 2005. Reports suggest the probe uncovered industrial-scale corruption involving politically-connected land barons, public officials and networks that allegedly converted public land into private wealth. The scandal is believed to have prejudiced the State of nearly US$3 billion.
Zimbabweans deserve to know who benefited.
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This issue is no longer abstract. Across Harare and other urban centres, families are watching bulldozers tear down homes built on illegally-allocated land. Some victims spent life savings buying stands they believed were legitimate. Others secured loans and invested years constructing homes, only to discover they had been trapped in a corrupt system that offered them no protection.
The cruelty is staggering, because ordinary citizens are paying the price for a system that failed to regulate land allocations, failed to stop corruption and failed to prosecute politically connected barons operating in broad daylight.
Demolitions alone will never amount to justice.
Justice means exposing the networks behind the fraud, and it also means prosecuting those who illegally sold State land. Justice means recovering stolen wealth and compensating innocent home seekers who were manipulated by a criminal enterprise masquerading as urban development.
Anything less amounts to selective punishment.
If government is serious about accountability, it must release the Uchena Report immediately and allow Zimbabweans to see the full extent of the scandal. Continued secrecy only strengthens public suspicion that influential individuals are being protected from scrutiny.
The courts have spoken, and the President has acted. What remains missing is action.
A constitutional democracy cannot function when court orders are ignored and politically-sensitive reports disappear into silence. Zimbabweans deserve the truth, and those responsible for land corruption must finally be brought to book.
