Opinion / Columnist
If Twitter was an affidavit, Prof Moyo would be in gallows
04 Nov 2016 at 05:46hrs | Views
It is almost natural in African politics to hang small goat thieves but elect the bigger thieves into public office. Our African parliaments can be easily mistaken for prison rehabilitation centres. We are as good as assigning hyenas to make a rule book on fair hunting practices and expect those rules to be fair on the sheep.
Great PLO Patrice Lumumba once said effects of corruption in Africa are so severe that even those who are engaged in corruption acknowledge it's a bad thing, but the tragedy of the whole thing is that those who do corruption love it, and those not directly involved actually tolerate it.
TYPES OF THIEVES IN AFRICA
In Africa you are a thief as long as you grovel in wrong feet. There are three types of thieves in Africa: Political thieves and Tribal thieves and the Unknowns common criminals. It's easy to deal with the unknowns as you always find them being sentenced to the harshest terms in court. Those are not our concern today.
Political and tribal thieves are different from the rest in the sense that they are institutionalised thieves. They steal from and for a larger community. Give a gun to an unknown common thief and he will rob one bank, give a politician funds and resources and he will rob the whole nation.
Political parties have been known to arm twist law enforcements agents just to get their own out of trouble, they have also been known to arm twist law enforcers just to get back at their political opponents. Usually this politically inclined corruption is diffused by change of political office.
Since blood is thicker than water, tribal thieves are the most complicated to deal with. Before an officer of the law takes a corruption case involving a politician, it's strange and funny that they first ask about origins of the perpetrator. We are Africans and you cannot deny the existence of extended families. We have people who steal knowing fully well they are stealing for and are supported by their corrupt community. To their communities it's not whether or not they are innocent, but it's about where they originally come from.
PROF J MOYO – OUR TRIBAL THIEF?
Recent example of tribal thieving is Prof J "Zimdef" Moyo. After having the case of Zimdef being blown out of the waters by media, and also Prof giving us insights through his abuse of twitter, we got to conclude that the Prof misappropriated funds. It was the most shocking thing when we heard that chiefs in Tsholotsho had convened to defend their own.
Digging deeper into chiefs of Tsholotsho one is confronted with a strange reality: They are also beneficiaries of the pillaging of Zimdef funds. They came to the Zimdef saga Indaba venue using the spoils-of-the-loot motorbikes to try and discuss the Zimdef saga.
To these chiefs it's strange that Prof Moyo must be investigated. They see this investigation as persecution of a hard worker. It's lost to them how much effect the misappropriated fund had on someone else who was the rightful beneficiary. Their concern is about saving their son. That is how deep rooted and blinding tribal thieving can go.
Remember all the scandals in 1980s by zanupf top ministers? One person said the reason why zanupf is still intact is because all zanupf people have dirty linen they are trying hard to keep from public eye.
Joining Zanupf is like riding a hyena, you are safe as long as you ride, and once you disembark you are gone! This party is being held in place through the glue of fear and blackmail. It is a party of criminals whose deeds have been hidden from the face of the public for so long. Its time up.
Back to our Zimdef Saga.
The only difference in this case is that the "victim" of exposure Prof Moyo mistakes Twitter for his personal diary. Whether this is intentional, ignorance or by mistake no one knows. But the more he tweets, the more zanupf shakes and the more we see the corruption in zanupf. His actions remind me of a fired Prof J Moyo in 2005 when he said "… it's easier to destroy a house from the inside…" Not saying much, just recalling.
EFFECTS OF HABOURING TRIBAL THIEVES
Ethnocides and genocides always come up as a result of existence of tribal thieves. A whole community can come up together and rise against another ethnic group to protect their
own. Already the chiefs defending Prof Moyo are raising the tribal card so high it's scary and disgusting.
VP Mpoko stayed in a hotel for over a year, I know of some tribal lawyers who defended his actions as a revenge against "decades long pillaging by the Shonas"….already a line has been drawn. Imagine if Prof Moyo gets convicted, the tribal back lash may not be that good.
CAUSES OF TRIBAL AND POLITICAL FRAUDS
The problem of tribal or political or ethnical criminals begets from corrupt leadership. If leadership in the country is corrupt, the lower rungs of people are bound to replicate and reflect it. Strictly speaking one wonders why all the hundreds of scandals since 1980 have not been investigated fully and it perpetrators arrested. One shocking thing about these scandals is the fact that they are dominated by people from one Shona tribe, maybe they survived because the president is their kith and kin? Never know. Blood is thicker than justice.
Tolerance of government on corruption is the genesis of all our problems. A thief must be a thief no matter which party or tribe they come from. As humans, our natural default position is to defend our own but when it comes to corruption and running a government we must learn to be transparent.
GIVE A LONGER HAND TO ZACC MR PRESIDENT
If proven guilty let Jonathan Moyo repay the money and go to prison, so applies to the beneficiaries of National Railways Housing, Air Zimbabwe Fokker Plane, Zisco Steel blast Furnace, Willowgate, ZRP Santana, War Victims Compensation, GMB Grain, Noczim , DRC timber and diamond UN reported , Ziscosteel, Chiadzwa, and Salary gate scandals. NB I couldn't name them all - it's a thesis on its own to even know them all.
If Bulawayo city council officials misused their offices, there is no need to hide behind the tribal card. They stole they stole, period. Let the law take its course. Our main problem is not sanctions or lack of resources, no. Our main problem is corruption and then tribally (mostly political) covering of the misdeeds. Stealing knows no tribe, prison must know no tribe either.
Let all thieves go to prison. We need to be liberated. We as Zimbabweans say no to corruption, we don't care who did it and why they did the corruption. Our bottom line is politician's lifetime should have a limit of two terms: first term should be spent in office, the second term should be spent in prison.
We commend the Zanupf government for allowing ZACC to take its course and arrest J Moyo. This must not end with him, and let's make sure it's not tribal based. If a minister has 50 bedroomed house, their life style should be audited to ascertain the source of their income. This anti-corruption move is over delayed. Zimbabwe has been killed not by sanctions but by corrupt zanupf officials. Let ZACC do its job freely Mr President. We are tired.
I hope the arrest of Prof J Moyo has nothing to do with his endeavours to rebury his father who died during Gukurahundi. I hope it's purely got everything to do with fighting corruption.
Instead of croco-busting, Prof J Moyo I look forward to your tweets on lice-busting.
We wait to see if ZanuPF can cleanse and reform its self of all its corrupt officials, come 2018 you never know what this simple gesture can have on the ballot paper. Let's keep the wheels turning ZACC, you are in the right track so far.
BY MANGOSUTHU MJ MBELE
0773 461 120
Great PLO Patrice Lumumba once said effects of corruption in Africa are so severe that even those who are engaged in corruption acknowledge it's a bad thing, but the tragedy of the whole thing is that those who do corruption love it, and those not directly involved actually tolerate it.
TYPES OF THIEVES IN AFRICA
In Africa you are a thief as long as you grovel in wrong feet. There are three types of thieves in Africa: Political thieves and Tribal thieves and the Unknowns common criminals. It's easy to deal with the unknowns as you always find them being sentenced to the harshest terms in court. Those are not our concern today.
Political and tribal thieves are different from the rest in the sense that they are institutionalised thieves. They steal from and for a larger community. Give a gun to an unknown common thief and he will rob one bank, give a politician funds and resources and he will rob the whole nation.
Political parties have been known to arm twist law enforcements agents just to get their own out of trouble, they have also been known to arm twist law enforcers just to get back at their political opponents. Usually this politically inclined corruption is diffused by change of political office.
Since blood is thicker than water, tribal thieves are the most complicated to deal with. Before an officer of the law takes a corruption case involving a politician, it's strange and funny that they first ask about origins of the perpetrator. We are Africans and you cannot deny the existence of extended families. We have people who steal knowing fully well they are stealing for and are supported by their corrupt community. To their communities it's not whether or not they are innocent, but it's about where they originally come from.
PROF J MOYO – OUR TRIBAL THIEF?
Recent example of tribal thieving is Prof J "Zimdef" Moyo. After having the case of Zimdef being blown out of the waters by media, and also Prof giving us insights through his abuse of twitter, we got to conclude that the Prof misappropriated funds. It was the most shocking thing when we heard that chiefs in Tsholotsho had convened to defend their own.
Digging deeper into chiefs of Tsholotsho one is confronted with a strange reality: They are also beneficiaries of the pillaging of Zimdef funds. They came to the Zimdef saga Indaba venue using the spoils-of-the-loot motorbikes to try and discuss the Zimdef saga.
To these chiefs it's strange that Prof Moyo must be investigated. They see this investigation as persecution of a hard worker. It's lost to them how much effect the misappropriated fund had on someone else who was the rightful beneficiary. Their concern is about saving their son. That is how deep rooted and blinding tribal thieving can go.
Joining Zanupf is like riding a hyena, you are safe as long as you ride, and once you disembark you are gone! This party is being held in place through the glue of fear and blackmail. It is a party of criminals whose deeds have been hidden from the face of the public for so long. Its time up.
Back to our Zimdef Saga.
The only difference in this case is that the "victim" of exposure Prof Moyo mistakes Twitter for his personal diary. Whether this is intentional, ignorance or by mistake no one knows. But the more he tweets, the more zanupf shakes and the more we see the corruption in zanupf. His actions remind me of a fired Prof J Moyo in 2005 when he said "… it's easier to destroy a house from the inside…" Not saying much, just recalling.
EFFECTS OF HABOURING TRIBAL THIEVES
Ethnocides and genocides always come up as a result of existence of tribal thieves. A whole community can come up together and rise against another ethnic group to protect their
own. Already the chiefs defending Prof Moyo are raising the tribal card so high it's scary and disgusting.
VP Mpoko stayed in a hotel for over a year, I know of some tribal lawyers who defended his actions as a revenge against "decades long pillaging by the Shonas"….already a line has been drawn. Imagine if Prof Moyo gets convicted, the tribal back lash may not be that good.
CAUSES OF TRIBAL AND POLITICAL FRAUDS
The problem of tribal or political or ethnical criminals begets from corrupt leadership. If leadership in the country is corrupt, the lower rungs of people are bound to replicate and reflect it. Strictly speaking one wonders why all the hundreds of scandals since 1980 have not been investigated fully and it perpetrators arrested. One shocking thing about these scandals is the fact that they are dominated by people from one Shona tribe, maybe they survived because the president is their kith and kin? Never know. Blood is thicker than justice.
Tolerance of government on corruption is the genesis of all our problems. A thief must be a thief no matter which party or tribe they come from. As humans, our natural default position is to defend our own but when it comes to corruption and running a government we must learn to be transparent.
GIVE A LONGER HAND TO ZACC MR PRESIDENT
If proven guilty let Jonathan Moyo repay the money and go to prison, so applies to the beneficiaries of National Railways Housing, Air Zimbabwe Fokker Plane, Zisco Steel blast Furnace, Willowgate, ZRP Santana, War Victims Compensation, GMB Grain, Noczim , DRC timber and diamond UN reported , Ziscosteel, Chiadzwa, and Salary gate scandals. NB I couldn't name them all - it's a thesis on its own to even know them all.
If Bulawayo city council officials misused their offices, there is no need to hide behind the tribal card. They stole they stole, period. Let the law take its course. Our main problem is not sanctions or lack of resources, no. Our main problem is corruption and then tribally (mostly political) covering of the misdeeds. Stealing knows no tribe, prison must know no tribe either.
Let all thieves go to prison. We need to be liberated. We as Zimbabweans say no to corruption, we don't care who did it and why they did the corruption. Our bottom line is politician's lifetime should have a limit of two terms: first term should be spent in office, the second term should be spent in prison.
We commend the Zanupf government for allowing ZACC to take its course and arrest J Moyo. This must not end with him, and let's make sure it's not tribal based. If a minister has 50 bedroomed house, their life style should be audited to ascertain the source of their income. This anti-corruption move is over delayed. Zimbabwe has been killed not by sanctions but by corrupt zanupf officials. Let ZACC do its job freely Mr President. We are tired.
I hope the arrest of Prof J Moyo has nothing to do with his endeavours to rebury his father who died during Gukurahundi. I hope it's purely got everything to do with fighting corruption.
Instead of croco-busting, Prof J Moyo I look forward to your tweets on lice-busting.
We wait to see if ZanuPF can cleanse and reform its self of all its corrupt officials, come 2018 you never know what this simple gesture can have on the ballot paper. Let's keep the wheels turning ZACC, you are in the right track so far.
BY MANGOSUTHU MJ MBELE
0773 461 120
Source - Mangosuthu MJ Mbele
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