One of the leading factors that led to the Zimbabwean socio-economic and political crisis is impunity against corruption, mal-administration, bad governance and allowing the country to be run by corrupt and self-centred individuals who had no people at heart. It thus did not come as a surprise to learn that some of these rogue and corrupt elements had huge sums of money in their houses, when the rest of the country is in a cash crisis. As a result, almost all sectors were affected and the well-being of the people severely compromised. Due to high unemployment rate because of lack of interest to address the problems, many Zimbabweans left the country for greener pastures.
The Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa is requesting Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, as the proposed President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and his team to ensure the following:
- All individuals previously implicated in corruption scandals and other acts of dishonesty should not be appointed to any leadership position. The list of some of the corruption scandals is shown below as one of the annexes;
- All individuals identified for appointments should declare their assets and liabilities in the interest of transparency and accountability;
- Cases of corruption, most of which appear to have been forgotten should be re-opened, investigated to their logical conclusions and culprits taken to court;
- Ill-gotten wealth and assets (whether in and out of the country) should be identified and returned to the people;
- Carry out lifestyle audits of all leaders to see if their lives are consistent with their reported legitimate income;
- Many leaders grabbed more than one farm per person, which does not only show greediness but violates government policy. These farms should be re-possessed and given to many landless Zimbabweans;
- Individuals who abused their power, office and authority to frustrate the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC)’s investigations of cases linked to Jonathan Moyo, and ZINARA among others should be investigated and appropriate action taken.
Mr. Alouis Munyaradzi Chaumba, the Regional Coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa urged the new establishment to ensure a new and clean beginning through appointing upright individuals who will take the country to greater heights to avoid a repeat of the suffering under the poor leadership and misrule of the former President Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
“A new prosperous Zimbabwe is very possible but the only challenge is the integrity of some of the leaders. I just hope that we are going to see new faces and avoid re-cycling same old faces who were conniving with Mugabe to destroy the country. All those implicated in corruption and other acts of dishonesty must not come anywhere near leadership positions. The integrity of the leaders who are going to be appointment will be one of the key measures of the existence of political-will to weed out corruption and bring about socio-economic prosperity. We are closely monitoring and further willing as an organization to carry out a corruption mapping exercise showing corruption scandals in which all the leaders were implicated” he says.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries in the world in which a culture of corruption exists. The unfortunate development has always been impunity and all corrupt leaders were not sanctioned but rather promoted and rewarded. Some senior leaders were on record, obstructing ZACC and the police from investigating corruption cases. A new Zimbabwe is possible, only if we remain committed to anti-corruption.
Annex -1- List of reported corruption scandals in Zimbabwe since 1980:
- 1982 Paweni scandal
- 1985 The GMB scandal
- 1986 Kumbirai Kangai NICOZON scandal: 142 m embezzled
- 1987 – Zisco Steel blast Furnace Scandal
- 1987 – Air Zimbabwe Fokker Plane Scandal – $ 100 million
- 1986 – National Railways Housing Scandal
- 1988 – Willowgate Scandal
- 1989 – ZRP Santana Scandal
- 1994 – War Victims Compensation Scandal
- 1995 – GMB Grain Scandal
- 1996 – VIP Housing Scandal
- 1998 – Boka Banking Scandal
- 1998 – ZESA YTL Soltran Scandal
- 1998 – Telecel Scandal
- 1998 – Harare City Council Refuse Tender Scandal
- 1999 – Housing Loan Scandal
- 1999 – Noczim Scandal
- 1999 – DRC timber and diamond Un reported scandals
- 1999 – GMB Scandal
- 1999 – Ministry of water and rural development Chinese tender scandal
- 1999 – VIP Land Grab Scandal
- 2000 Chikowore NICOZIM scandal
- 2001 – Harare Airport Scandal
- 2008-2014 – Airport Road Scandal
- 2016 – Zimdef Funds Jonathan Moyo Scandal
Source: Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa
