“Zimbabwe is among 12 countries
put under the spotlight by the European Union because it has deficiencies under
its Anti-Money Laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)
measures,” reported Bulawayo 24.
“The EU wants a new system to
tackle money laundering and financial crime and it is considering creating a
new authority to police financial crime and monitor banks more strictly.
According to a document authored by the commission obtained by NewsDay Business
last week, Zimbabwe's financial system is risky.”
This is no surprise!
A few weeks ago, Zimbabwe’s
Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, surprise everyone by reporting
that country had $3 billion budgetary deficit! The Zimbabwe economy has been in
total meltdown for decades and things have got significantly worse these last
two years, inflation has soared to over 500%, unemployment has remained
stubbornly high at 90% plus, the country has had up to 18 hours per day
electricity power cuts, etc., etc.
So, where the Dickens is the government
revenue coming from let alone the conjured surplus!
The truth is Zimbabwe has
always had two political systems with two parallel governments. There is the conventional
government, more public face, with the executive, cabinet, parliament, Police,
civil servant, etc. and then the more shadowy Joint Operations Command (JOC)
junta comprising of the top brass in the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Services
plus a few select others headed by Mnangagwa and Chiwenga. The junta is the one
wielding the real political power.
The junta has had its own
secure source of funds, it has creamed off as much cash as it wished from all
the conventional government institutions and private sector. JOC has become the
Mafia in Zimbabwe to who everyone has had to pay protection money. But by far
the greatest source of money for the JOC and the country’s ruling elite is the
institutionalised looting.
For example, cabinet has
approved the granting of diamond mining concessions to syndicates knowing there
will be no records kept of the quantity and quality of diamonds mined, to whom
they are sold and for how much and most important of all, who the beneficiaries
are. Since no one knows who the beneficiaries of this institutionalised looting
are, they in turn do not pay any income tax on their loot.
The real big challenge for the
looters has been how to sell their looted wealth and how to spend their ill-got
money without raising too suspicion. Senior government leaders like the late
Robert Mugabe had no problem using the state institutions including the
Minister of Finance and the Banking institutions to help with the cleaning up
of their loot.
The US$ 500 million to buy the Hong
Kong apartment late Robert Mugabe bought for his daughter Bona when she lived there
as a student, was all paid for by the Minister of Finance, for example. On
paper, the money was used to pay embassy officials; in reality the money for
that came out Mugabe’s account. Job done!
The lesser mortals like Joice
Mujuru and her late husband struggled to get rid of their looted wealth. According
to media reports, the Mujurus used their daughter and her husband in Spain to try
to off load their looted diamonds. The daughter was forced to take back her
loot because she failed to explain where the diamonds came from!
When Joice Mujuru and a number
of other Zanu PF leaders were booted out of the party in 2014, they formed
their own political party. When Mugabe feared the new party was a threat to his
own iron grip on power he revealed that the country had been “swindled out of
US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone”! He had documentary evidence of how the
Mujurus had swindled the nation and was going to release it if she did not back
off. Of course, she backed off!
Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe
before him, is the Godfather of institutionalised corruption in Zimbabwe. There
is a river of dirty money flowing into the country and since the regime
controls every facet of Zimbabwean economic activity both the public and
private sector are all working in cahoots to filter and clean it up.
Still since we all know the
source of the dirty money is the looted Marange and Chiadzwa diamonds it does
not need a Sherlock Holmes to uncover who the individual player are; the miners,
the syndicate owners, the dealers, mules, etc., etc.
It has become near impossible
to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship because the ruling elite have become
filthy rich and powerful. Countries like China and Russia have not only turned
a blind eye to the wholesale corruption but joined in the looting. They have helped
to rig elections and other clandestine activities to keep the ruling elite stay
in power.
Zimbabwe’s financial system is
not just risky, it is rotten to the core. The country’s hopes of dismantling
the Zanu PF dictatorship and building a healthy and functioning democratic system
of government is dependent on dismantling the institutionalised corruption and
the rotten financial system bankrolling the dictatorship.
Sources within the Khupe MDC-T have also indicated that Khupe will be sworn into parliament as early as next week to replace Thabitha Khumalo her long-time rival who she recalled from parliament two weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteThe move to rush Khupe back into parliament is meant to give her bigger bargaining power for the deal.
Zanu PF must not forget that it rigged the July 2018 elections hence the reason the country is a pariah state. As a pariah state the whole world have found it impossible to work with the regime; China and Russian who are working with the regime for the sake of exploiting it.
Mnangagwa can invite whosoever he please to join him and form a coalition government but what he must remember is the new government will still be a Zanu PF regime in all but name. And most important of all, Zimbabwe will still be a pariah state.
It has been bad enough to have a corrupt and incompetent government during the good times, to have such a government during these corona virus times is a curse that is impossible to comprehend or endure. The coming weeks and months will reveal the seriousness of the corona virus in Zimbabwe and how Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence has made the situation even worse.
The pressure to replace this failed Zanu PF regime will increase as people wake up to the reality that as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state the country will continue to sink into the abyss.
If Zanu PF is allowed to remain in power until 2023 the regime will see to it that no meaningful reforms are implemented, and it will go on to rig the 2023 elections. If the people allow this to happen then they will deserve to suffer!
The lockdown is just a waste of time if people are then force to queue en masse for transport, water, maize meal, etc. Zanu PF's blundering incompetence is hurting the economy with no covid-19 gains. None!
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe needs a competent government during a crisis such as this corona virus pandemic. Zanu PF has already proven beyond all doubt that the party is corrupt and incompetent and it is naive if people expect the regime to now perform miracles and do anything right!