Salarygate: Zanu-PF serving rotten chicken

The Professor Welshman Ncube led MDC says Zanu-PF is a beneficiary of the rot at state run institutions where senior managers awarded themselves heft salaries adding that government was not going to act on the rot.

In a statement, MDC spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube said the lack of seriousness on the part of Zanu-PF in rooting out of corruption was seen with the failure to prosecute former Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation board chairman Goodwills Masimirembwa who was last year accused of corruption by President Robert Mugabe.

Masimirembwa allegedly demanded $6 million bribe from Gye Nyame, a Ghanaian firm which sought to invest in diamond mining at Chiadzwa.

"Masimirembwa was told almost to his face by the highest office in our land that he is corrupt. Happison Muchechetere became the first worm out of the can of public sector CEOs who earned astronomical salaries," Dube said.

 "Cuthbert Dube followed with the mother of all salary and benefits shockers from which we still have not recovered. One by one we hear of the amazing benefits of being a Zanu-PF functionary which benefit flies in the face of the reality of our economy. Of course there was Willowgate and Mashata Paweni long before this new line of A Looter Continua brand of CEOs."

Dube said while the generality of Zimbabweans at the level of plunder at in the state run institutions, Zanu-PF was not.

"If they were as shocked and disgusted as we all are then the Masimirembwa announcement would not have frozen over for lack of action. Cuthbert Dube would not have been shielded by a hastily arranged retirement as if to smuggle him out of the burning building via a back door and safely away from the maddening crowd," Dube said.

"It all appears to be a game of smoke and mirrors where Zanu-PF like a fast food company which claims the practice of good customer service while serving rotten chicken wants us to believe that they abhor corruption when they actually feed it and from it.

"If the head of state sees it, announces it but no action is taken who can be blamed for believing that it is indeed a well-established game of make believe and nothing more."