HARARE - President Robert Mugabe’s government has many times flattered only to deceive in matters involving corruption.
Mugabe himself has hit the table many times, told delegates at Zanu PF conferences that he would not tolerate corrupt colleagues, but those warnings fell on deaf ears.
It is not surprising that since the Willowgate scandal which claimed the scalps of Mugabe’s cronies among them key ministers and longtime friends, Zimbabwe is yet to witness arrests of bigwigs fingered in graft.
This is despite many audits adducing evidence of grand theft by senior officials, at times including Zanu PF chefs.
Cobwebs and dust have since covered these probes.
No headway has been made, at least judging by the silence regarding the matter, in the claims that former Zimbabwe Mining and Development Corporation (ZMDC) chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa demanded and received a $6 million bribe from a Ghanaian investor.
When a president makes such serious allegations we expect swift response from those tasked to investigate and prosecute. In the absence of such course of action, all count for nothing.
This is why it is disheartening to note that efforts that have been undertaken by Mugabe’s ministers such as Jonathan Moyo to try and nip corruption are already being undermined.
Moyo has spiritedly campaigned against obscene salaries and acts of corruption permeating parastatals.
His colleague, Local Government minister Ignatious Chombo, has waded into the muddied waters at government entities by sensationally backing a man suspended for insubordination.
Tendai Mahachi, the Harare City Council, town clerk suspended for refusing to submit the salary schedules of top managers at the municipality, is back at work after Chombo’s intervention.
This is not only mindboggling but an assault on those driving to have transparency and order at parastatals, including municipalities.
What makes Mahachi’s case curious is that Chombo himself has been against huge salaries at local municipalities which he says are not backed by service delivery.
It is not difficult to deduce contrasting interests in the Zanu PF government; there are those who want to start a new era and those who believe some people are untouchables.
Whichever way one looks at government’s priorities, good governance and the rule of law do not occupy the highest rungs of the priority ladder.
And Mugabe appears powerless to stamp his foot on his colleagues.
So is there any commitment to ending corruption, Mr President?