'Mugabe is godfather of corruption,' says Tendai Biti

Peoples Democratic  Party (PDP) president Tendai Biti has said rival President  Mugabe has created a class of super rich Zanu-PF cabal.

He said 'Mugabe is indeed the godfather of corruption'.

In his Africa Day statement titled ' Day 2016; reflections of a continent in need of new leadership' he said Mugabe's legacy is that of corruption.

Below is part of his statement :

'... greatest story of failed and lethargic leadership is to be found in Zimbabwe where President Mugabe in his advanced years is determined to drag the nation with him to his grave.

In the 36 years that he has been at the helm of the country, Zimbabwe has regressed from being a country moving towards a middle income economy into one of the poorest in the world, competing for the poorest nation gong with war torn countries such as Somalia.

In 36 years of Mugabe's indolent leadership, Zimbabwe has moved from being the bread basket of Africa to becoming a basket case. Three decades of independence has produced a nation with 91% unemployment with 83% of its people living on less than US$1.25 per day.

Parallel to the heart rending poverty and squalor which has become characteristic of Zimbabwean life, Mugabe has also created a class of the super rich. Through organized looting of state resources, patronage, naked corruption, nepotism and outright theft, Zimbabwe has been looted beyond imagination.

By Mugabe's own admission US$15 billion worth of diamonds was looted in the short period between 2009 and 2015. In addition, various scandals involving high ranking officials in Mugabe's establishment have been made public but albeit there has been no action thus proving beyond doubt that Mugabe is indeed the godfather of corruption.

  In any case one does not have to dig any far to see evidence of the legendary looting that Mugabe and his cabal have presided over. The shameless crooks in the regime publicly display their ill-gotten wealth and even boast of being untouchable.

If Mugabe and his henchmen's sins had only been to loot the economy then he would have long been rid off, arrested and rightly locked away for a very longtime. However Mugabe has also systematically disempowered citizens by embarking on periodic reigns of terror, particularly during election years.

Since 1980, Mugabe's party has consistently unleashed horrific orgies of violence on innocent citizens and also abducted and murdered hundreds of opposition activists. He has also consistently rigged the outcome of elections and thus robbed the people of Zimbabwe their right to chose leaders of their preference.

As another election looms on the horizons, the ZANU PF cult is engaging its default mode of violence. They also continue to shamelessly blow scarce resources in meaningless festivities such as birthday bashes and confused ‘solidarity marches' while bring back the moribund Zimbabwean dollar so as to provide easy cash for sustaining patronage ahead of the election.

Given the dire circumstances facing our country, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) takes the opportunity of this year's Africa Day to once again call for the resignation of Mugabe and his failed regime and pave way for the setting up of the National Transitional Authority (NTA).

The NTA will among other things stabilize the economy, rehabilitate the electoral process, embark on national healing and reconciliation and align the laws with the constitution.

At a continental level, as another decade beacons for Africa our hope is that progressive African leaders and genuine pan-Africanists should coalesce together and address the twin evils of underdevelopment and democracy deficit.

That 50 years after independence Africa still has the bulk of fragile states such as Eretria, Somalia and Zimbabwe is surely unacceptable. A new generation of young transformational leaders that put the people first ahead of personal interests is called for.

It is time for the real transformation of the African continent.