The Sunday News
Vincent Gono, Features Editor
REPORTS that garages are receiving subsidised fuel and channelling it to the parallel market where it is sold at inflated prices thereby creating a shortage in the formal market and pushing up the prices of goods and services tells a sad tale of more misery on the already economically burdened citizenry.
Corruption remains a seemingly insurmountable hurdle in the achievement of national economic progress and the fight against it should go beyond warnings, threats and empty rhetoric to practical no nonsense and unselective steps that shows that there is enough political will power to arrest the socio-economic gangrene.
The pronunciation by President Mnangagwa that his Government was going to take pragmatic steps to address the scourge of corruption which he admitted was deep-seated in most State institutions, shows that he is not divorced from the truth and people’s expectations.
“I now realise that corruption is deep rooted. I thought that by pronouncing that let’s fight corruption those who are corrupt will fear and stop, it’s not like that. It’s so rooted that you have to fight it from A to Z. In most systems, structures and institutions, there is an element of corruption,” said President Mnangagwa.
He said he was prepared to take practical steps to address the issue and was sure many cases would be brought before the courts and those found guilty would face the music.
“To fight it, you need the police to unearth, investigate; but also within the police, there is corruption. The next stage, you need prosecution; that is the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) — they need to prosecute the cases, so once the cases pass the corruption in the police, it has to pass the corruption in the NPA, then it must go to the courts and there is an element of corruption in the courts, so the fight is so wide and deep,” added the President.
He urged all State institutions to halt all forms of corruption — to walk the straight and narrow saying although the rot in State institutions was emitting a pungent smell, there were others who were still keeping their heads above the waters of corruption.
“However, I am happy that you find people who support the fight against corruption in all these institutions. In the police, not everyone is corrupt, in prosecution institutions, not everybody is corrupt, in the judiciary, not everybody is corrupt. So because of that we are gaining traction slowly, not as speedily as I had expected. As you realise, there are so many cases of corruption now in the courts,” he added.
Corruption has been threatening not only the remaining vestiges of the country’s socio-economic order but has tattered its moral fibre, leaving it threadbare and causing a severe economic retrogression whose effects are seismic and felt by many. It has retarded economic growth as investments have a tendency of shunning corrupt markets.
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) chair Justice Matanda-Moyo vowed to leave no stone unturned in the investigation of corruption cases and rid the nation of the vice blamed for frustrating the country’s drive to engender economic growth.
“I am equally aware of public concerns and expectations regarding investigation and prosecution of corruption cases. The public is concerned about cases of grand corruption and everyone expects thorough investigation which results in the presentation of concrete evidence for the successful prosecution of offences.”
“May I therefore assure you that my Commission will do everything in its power to meet the expectations of His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) and the nation at large and address these concerns,” said Justice Matanda-Moyo.
Prosecutor General Mr Kumbirai Hodzi said they were going to act decisively on corruption cases, “Certainly, you are going to see high-profile cases being prosecuted. The public demands that and we demand that at the end of the day. The whole anti-corruption thrust, which has captured the imagination of the people, and the fight against corruption is going to be central to economic recovery.
“Frankly speaking, people are tired, people know very well that it is corruption which is causing things like potholes on the roads, shortages of goods, and it has to do with these corrupt syndicates. People are not fools, they want to see justice and corruption is going to be dealt with decisively and syndicates are going to be dismantled. People will be arrested and more will be brought before the courts soon,” warned Mr Hodzi.
According to a market brief by the African Development Bank, corrupt practices distort markets and stifle economic growth and sustainable development including robbing countries of critically needed resources. It reduces efficiency and increases social inequality while capital has a strong tendency of shying away from risky markets where corruption is rampant.
The increase in corruption cases in Zimbabwe has been repelling foreign direct investment which Zimbabwe so much needed to turn around its economy with allegations that Government and public sector bureaucrats are demanding bribes if an investor is to gain entry into certain sectors of the country’s economy. This has an adverse effect of increasing the cost of doing business in the country thus frustrating investors in the process. As a result of damning reports of corruption, the competitiveness of Zimbabwe in attracting foreign direct investment is seriously compromised as foreign investors make use of global corruption indexes before they decide on where to invest.
Political commentator and philosophy scholar Mr Jowere Mukusha submits that corruption is both a product and cause of poor governance and weak institutions, adding that it is one of the major costs and impediments to structural transformation in the country.
“It should never be the President’s fight alone but should be a serious signal of the trajectory that the country is pursuing,” said Mr Mukusha.
Politician Mr Harry Peter Wilson lauded the call by President Mnangagwa saying it was supposed to be coupled by action towards a new economic trajectory based on zero tolerance to the scourge of corruption. He said what was disheartening was that people who were suspected to be corrupt were known but nothing had been done to them.
He said corruption in Zimbabwe was a phenomenon that was closely linked to poor society and argued that pressure to reduce corruption and move towards good governance was both necessary and desirable, but that those ends could not be achieved unless attention was also given to other governance capacities required for accelerating and sustaining growth.
