Civil servants and politicians ordered to declare assets, supposedly to fight corruption - a nak*d lie

"True to his word in fighting corruption President Emmerson Mnangagwa has ordered that all civil servants, politicians (it is not clear whether this applies to all politicians of just Zanu PF politicians), CEO of parastatals, board directors and other senior officials to declare their assets," reported Zimeye.

The letter asks the individuals to list all their immovable assets, any movable asset valued in excess of $100 000 and all business interests. The declarations must be submitted to Dr M J M Sibanda, Chief Secretary to the President and cabinet Office by 28 February 2018.

The declaration is in pursuance of President Mnangagwa's inauguration promise to fight corruption, the letter said.

This is President Mnangagwa's second presidential decree, the first one was to grant a three-month amnesty from arrest to all those who had externalised cash illegally to return it. These executive orders have no legal basis whatsoever, this is President Mnangagwa just flexing his muscle.
 
The declaration is just Mnangagwa revisiting Robert Mugabe's 1980s leadership code adopted by Zanu PF soon after independence designed to limit the wealth leaders were allowed to amass. No one took the code seriously, as we know, the looting of the nation's wealth only got worse with each passing day. Mugabe had his spies on everyone and they kept an up to date list of what each and every one of his cronies had amass; if they stepped out of line he then used the leadership code as a baton with which to punish them.

President Mnangagwa will have the spies to cross check the accuracy of the declarations just as Mugabe had done and anything he can uncover that is suspect will be used hold the individual hostage and/or punish them.

One of the reasons why the Mugabe's regimes were utterly useless is because the tyrant had all his MPs, ministers, etc. on leashes like dogs; one savage yank of the leash and the animal was on its knees in pain and fear of the savage kick that often follow. Margaret Dongo once described Zanu PF leaders as "vakadzi vaMugabe" (Mugabe's subservient concubines) because of the way they all cowed and grovelled to the man.

We have just got rid of one control freak, Robert Mugabe, but only to have him with another!

If President Mnangagwa is serious about ending Zimbabwe's rampant corruption and looting then he must get parliament to pass a law which will stipulate who must declare his/her assets, the details of the assets that must be listed, who will have access to the declarations, what is the purpose of collecting this data, what are the penalties of making a false declaration, etc., etc.

President Mnangagwa keeps talking of a new Zimbabwe that respect the rule of law; he is not ruling by law, these executive decrees are not law. Like all tyrants' whims these decrees will be used selectively not so much to end corruption but to instil fear on his corrupt cronies who will be hauled before him to explain where they got the wealth should they should displease him in anyway.