News / National
Obscene salaries exposé takes another twist
10 Feb 2014 at 19:29hrs | Views
Revelations that Presidential spokesman George Charamba may have benefited in the PSMAS salary scam puts another twist to the Zanu-PF factionalism which is seen as the main driver of the exposés on 'corrupt salaries.' Mujuru waded into the Salarygate debate over the weekend.
All along the exposés were said to have affected only those executives aligned to the faction led by vice President Joice Mujuru, leading to the belief that the other faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa was instigating everything.
Charamba, who hails from Buhera, is said to belong to the Mnangagwa faction.
Acting President Joice Mujuru, over the weekend castigated the exposure of corrupt activities in parastatals and related companies in the media, saying this might be the work of detractors bent on destroying Government and stall its programmes.
Her statements are seen as a dig at Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, who was linked to the Mnangagwa camp following an attempted palace coup in Tsholotsho in 2004 who said President Mugabe told cabinet last week that there would be no sacred cows.
Moyo was part of the group of influential Zanu-PF members who attended a meeting at Dinyane school which was reportedly meant to plot Mugabe's succession by the faction led by Mnangagwa, who reports say was supposed to address the congregation, even though he cancelled his trip to Tsholotsho at the last minute.
Mujuru, who was addressing the Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial women's conference in Chinhoyi on Saturday, said the graft cases should not be discussed in the media.
The Acting President said the corruption cases were not the business of newspapers, saying the way the cases were being exposed raised eyebrows.
Mujuru accused people of wasting their time on useless issues and accused some Zanu-PF members of fighting from within to destroy Government programmes.
The Acting President said corruption in the corporate and public sectors had no place in the country's economic development trajectory encapsulated in Zim Asset.
She said measures needed to be taken to deal with greed which morphed into a culture bleeding the economy. VP Mujuru said women had a key role to play in the implementation of Zim Asset which would see their lives improve.
On the other hand, Professor Jonathan Moyo said President Mugabe told cabinet last week that there would be no sacred cows.
"Dismayed by the undeniable rot which is allegedly rampant among the 78 parastatals and State enterprises and the 92 local authorities in the country, and whose extent includes corruption of the tender and procurement processes as well as price distortions to the detriment of ordinary consumers, His Excellency the President, RG Mugabe, on Tuesday directed all Cabinet ministers to take full responsibility of the affairs of their ministries and of the parastatals, State enterprises or local authorities under their supervision to ensure that the rot is brought to an end by holding those culpable to account and to protect public assets and funds.
"The President's directive means that the buck must start with the honourable cabinet ministers, and that is as it should indeed be. In ridding our country of this culture of corruption, there must be no sacred cows, whatever the position of those involved," he said.
Prof Moyo added that some State-linked companies were yet to fully disclose their "obscene and corrupt" salary structures as directed to Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda.
He also revealed that several of these companies did not have properly-constituted boards or were operating outside of their parameters in addition to not fulfilling their mandates.
The official Zimpapers stable, particularly The Herald, has been at the forefront of exposing the scandals at the parastatals.
The information ministry, following the inauguration of a new cabinet in September after the July 31 general elections won by Zanu-PF, publicised the scam at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation where its suspended CEO, Happison Muchechetere, was earning around $40,000 when other employees had gone for several months without pay and were receiving low salaries.
Next to be exposed was the Premier Service Medical Aid Society where its CEO and former board chair at ZBC, Cuthbert Dube, was earning a reported $500,000 in salary and allowances yet PSMAS was failing to meet its obligations to contributors and was debt ridden.
George Charamba, the secretary in the ministry, sat on the PSMAS board.
Salary and tender scandals have also been reported at three other parastatals - the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority and Air Zimbabwe, in addition to the Harare City Council.
Moyo recently hailed the media for exposing the parastatal salary scandals, but cautioned that the expose must not be turned into a witch-hunt.
All along the exposés were said to have affected only those executives aligned to the faction led by vice President Joice Mujuru, leading to the belief that the other faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa was instigating everything.
Charamba, who hails from Buhera, is said to belong to the Mnangagwa faction.
Acting President Joice Mujuru, over the weekend castigated the exposure of corrupt activities in parastatals and related companies in the media, saying this might be the work of detractors bent on destroying Government and stall its programmes.
Her statements are seen as a dig at Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, who was linked to the Mnangagwa camp following an attempted palace coup in Tsholotsho in 2004 who said President Mugabe told cabinet last week that there would be no sacred cows.
Moyo was part of the group of influential Zanu-PF members who attended a meeting at Dinyane school which was reportedly meant to plot Mugabe's succession by the faction led by Mnangagwa, who reports say was supposed to address the congregation, even though he cancelled his trip to Tsholotsho at the last minute.
Mujuru, who was addressing the Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial women's conference in Chinhoyi on Saturday, said the graft cases should not be discussed in the media.
The Acting President said the corruption cases were not the business of newspapers, saying the way the cases were being exposed raised eyebrows.
Mujuru accused people of wasting their time on useless issues and accused some Zanu-PF members of fighting from within to destroy Government programmes.
The Acting President said corruption in the corporate and public sectors had no place in the country's economic development trajectory encapsulated in Zim Asset.
She said measures needed to be taken to deal with greed which morphed into a culture bleeding the economy. VP Mujuru said women had a key role to play in the implementation of Zim Asset which would see their lives improve.
"Dismayed by the undeniable rot which is allegedly rampant among the 78 parastatals and State enterprises and the 92 local authorities in the country, and whose extent includes corruption of the tender and procurement processes as well as price distortions to the detriment of ordinary consumers, His Excellency the President, RG Mugabe, on Tuesday directed all Cabinet ministers to take full responsibility of the affairs of their ministries and of the parastatals, State enterprises or local authorities under their supervision to ensure that the rot is brought to an end by holding those culpable to account and to protect public assets and funds.
"The President's directive means that the buck must start with the honourable cabinet ministers, and that is as it should indeed be. In ridding our country of this culture of corruption, there must be no sacred cows, whatever the position of those involved," he said.
Prof Moyo added that some State-linked companies were yet to fully disclose their "obscene and corrupt" salary structures as directed to Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda.
He also revealed that several of these companies did not have properly-constituted boards or were operating outside of their parameters in addition to not fulfilling their mandates.
The official Zimpapers stable, particularly The Herald, has been at the forefront of exposing the scandals at the parastatals.
The information ministry, following the inauguration of a new cabinet in September after the July 31 general elections won by Zanu-PF, publicised the scam at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation where its suspended CEO, Happison Muchechetere, was earning around $40,000 when other employees had gone for several months without pay and were receiving low salaries.
Next to be exposed was the Premier Service Medical Aid Society where its CEO and former board chair at ZBC, Cuthbert Dube, was earning a reported $500,000 in salary and allowances yet PSMAS was failing to meet its obligations to contributors and was debt ridden.
George Charamba, the secretary in the ministry, sat on the PSMAS board.
Salary and tender scandals have also been reported at three other parastatals - the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority and Air Zimbabwe, in addition to the Harare City Council.
Moyo recently hailed the media for exposing the parastatal salary scandals, but cautioned that the expose must not be turned into a witch-hunt.
Source - Byo24News
