There is no sincerity on corruption

Since the President started preaching about corruption, so far I've not yet received any light that the President is genuine on his corruption crusade. Whilst he has a good start, the way he is handling administration matters, but I think he needs to be more practical when he is talking about corruption. We haven't seen any signs of improvement yet. If you remember very well Mugabe used to talk of corruption but he never fired anyone on corruption allegations. There is more to it than corruption. I'm beginning to cast a doubt over corruption charges against Zanu PF officials. I'm also of the opinion that the corruption crusade is being used to purge G40 members and others who were not part of the Lacoste team. Why would only members of the G40 face arrest yet we have so many corrupt people who are still hanging onto their positions in Government. The President must simply walk the talk. We have people who were involved in the looting of Chiadzwa diamonds who are still cabinet ministers and we wounder then which gospel is the President preaching about? It's either those people knows the depth of some inside information or dirty deals to an extend that the President can't fire them or they have held the President hostage to his position. There is more to it than just mere talking. For Zanu PF to tell us that the 15 billion saga was a mere talk is not only a sad development but an insult to policy makers and researchers who arrived on such figures.

Why Are Only G40 Members Caught in the Web?

There is so much concern over the corruption allegations over senior Government officials. So far we have seen Chombo, Chipanga, Mzembi, Makhosini Thlongwane, Machaya the former midlands Governor, and my question is where these the only criminals around the President? I thought what ED should do is to make sure everything he utters from his mouth should come to pass if he wants people to take him seriously. Why would ED spend the entire interview emphasizing on corruption and other human rights issues and yet most of the corrupt officials are still hanging in his administration? Is this a genuine talk or it is a political gimmick?

Grace Mugabe's Criminality Raises a Lot of Dust

Grace Mugabe took advantage of Mugabe's advanced age to engage herself in many criminal and dirty deals. She has been grabbing land in Mazoe, and she made a lot of people to suffer, she even evicted people in Mash central, she ignored human rights activists who campaigned against her inhuman activities. Impeccable sources reveal that the Mugabe family have more than 12 farms and my question is why is ED silent about it? This raises a lot of dust why the President is so silent about yet he made it clear in Davos that there are no scared cows on corruption. I personally attended ED's parliamentary address at Sheraton, where he made it clear that no one will escape this corruption crusade, to my surprise Grace is still off the hook. Honestly how can a normal human being own 12 farms yet some of us we don't have anywhere to farm, and majority of those farms are lying idle yet Grace Mugabe is enjoying impunity. It is high time Grace Mugabe ‘s issues must come to the attention of the parliament of Zimbabwe so that she can be summoned either by ZACC or police or even parliament sop that she can explain to the nation why she has been going country wide grabbing land at the expense of commercial agriculture. Recently we heard that she wanted to smuggle ivory at the airport, she is obsessed with corruption. She has been smuggling latest cars to South Africa and other neighboring countries. For the past two days she was involved in land wrangles with Eagles view high school, honestly this woman has been looting from our country for two long but the Head of State is still silent and the President should not drive us to think that there was double dipping on both sides and now it is difficult for him to prosecute Grace Mugabe. She was involved in ring disputes which led to her partner in business to lose properties amounting to 1.5 million (United States Dollars). When Grace Mugabe is still outside prison we have not yet addressed corruption in our country. We are calling upon the Government of Zimbabwe to repossess Grace Mugabe's farms and properties which belong to the state.

Were Corruption Cases Genuine?

I'm still yet to see the definition of corruption until I see some changes in the governance style of President Mnangagwa. Criminals around president Mugabe stole soya beans, TV sets, fertilizers, etc. my question can people come together and remove a sitting president because of soya beans or TV sets? Was this the level of criminality in the Government of Zimbabwe, or there is more to it than words? I can see these cases not going anywhere and most of these G40 cabals are walking scot free , their bail conditions have been relaxed, so who is in jail for us to believe the President was genuine on corruption or Zanu PF is Zanu PF? Do you want us to believe that it is the same system and nothing has changed? You can't tell me that there were only 4 criminals around former President Mugabe, or it was mere factional fights?

Declaration of Assets Still Weak

I thought ED would simply tell us that he has declared his own assets together with his deputies officially to the parliament of Zimbabwe, this was going to be a good starting point. How can he give Misheck Sibanda instructions to inform all senior Government officials, perm secs, ministers and principal directors or other senior officials before he declares his own wealthy together with Chiwenga? Is this a political gimmick to hoodwink supporters and investors to make them believe that he is fighting corruption? In fact I blame MDC and those who slept on duty when they were making the final draft of our charter, they should have inserted a clause which makes it clear that anyone who wants to assume the office of presidency in Zimbabwe should declare his wealthy before contesting the election, this was going to be easy for civic society to account for the office of presidency. This is done to protect public resources and funds from looters.

Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as the Head of Southern Institute of Policy Analysis and Research – SIPAR TRUST, which is responsible for policy analysis and research. He is also an academic and researcher. He holds a BA, MA from Solusi University, and he also holds a Masters of Development Studies from University of Lusaka, Zambia. He is currently enrolled at University of KwaZulu Natal University in South Africa (PHD in Development Studies). He is also an adviser to many financial and political institutions within and outside Zimbabwe. He can be contacted at southerninstitutepar@gmail.com