If MPs cannot nail blundering Chivayo what more Macavity, 'bafflement of Scotland Yard'

Watching these parliamentary committee hearings of Wicknell Chivayo, Minister Obert Mpofu, ZESA management, etc. is comparable to listening to the childhood stories of "Tsuro naGudo" (The hare and the baboon). The baboon has the strength, just as the MPs have the law, authority and a mountain of evidence that a very serious crime has been committed. The mischievous hare will get away with it because will outwit the baboon and his muscle power every time.

When you have a minister, whose net worth was millions of dollars amassed at a time when the country's economy was in total meltdown; it is either he is that rare desert flower that blooms in adversity or he is corrupt. In a country where corruption has become rampant, one would be forgiven for believe that here was a prima facie case of rampant corruption.

Wicknell Chivayo's lavish lifestyle of winning and dinning the Mugabes, having 350 pairs of designer shoes, etc. is a pointer to how he must have squandered the millions meant for the ZESA project. But to listen to the parliamentary hearing it was clear it was MPs who were way out of their intellectual depths.

If it was not for parliamentary privileges law protecting these MPS, one would not be surprised to hear Chivayo, Mpofu, etc. have successful sued the lot on some trivial matter, just for the hell of it!

Corruption is a serious problem in Zimbabwe and if our MPs and parliament, the highest power and authority in the land, cannot even nail a blundering up-starts like Chivayo; there is no chance of anyone in the land ever convicted the real hardened criminal elite, T S Eliot's Macavity, "bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair"!

Is it any wonder then that the country is in a real serious economic mess, corruption has grown and spread into life-threatening cancerous tumours! There is no hope of any meaningful economic recovery without doing decisive to bring the corrupt people to book. We need a drag net to catch the dig fish and small fish of the corrupt world.

Parliament is the highest authority in the land and if it cannot rein in up starts like Chivayo, it is naïve to expect anyone else to do any better. The on-going parliamentary hearing circus has served to underline, once again, the importance of electing competent men and women as MPs, Senators, etc.

Zimbabwe's de facto one-party dictatorship, fostered on the nation under the pretext of peace and unity, has stifled all debate and democratic competition. When there is no debate and competition, merit counts for nothing; patronage is the only currency. And so instead of quality and competent MPs, etc., parliament is full of mediocre, corrupt and incompetent individuals.

We need to implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government. The reforms with end Zanu PF's control of the public media allowing freedom of expression, open debate and a free flow of ideas. Democracy will allow meaningful competition, the rigorous test from which only the best will go through and the mediocre will fall by the way side.

To hold the next elections in the present oppressive political system is a waste of time, money and opportunity for bringing about the real change because the only candidates on offer will no different from the corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless baboons the corrupt but cunning Chivayo hares are toying with.