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.
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