FOR decades those courageous enough among us have been shouting themselves hoarse about corruption in this country.
NewsDay Comment
Some, such as Chimurenga music guru, Thomas Mapfumo, were hounded into self-imposed exile for sounding the alarm, rather loudly, against corruption. As far back as 1988 Mapfumo prophetically first raised the red flag about the scourge with his chart-busting album Corruption at a time when many people hardly knew what the scourge was all about.
And for some it has taken 31 years for the corruption scourge to dawn on them as the chickens finally come home to roost. That is apparently true for some in the ruling Zanu PF, a party that has been at the country’s steering wheel for the past 39 uninterrupted years.
“It is time we start seeing people going to jail for corruption. This will ensure investors take us seriously as a country. The number of those arrested suggests that we are doing well, but the convictions are really worrying. It seems as if the system is corrupt and we must deal with that. We have been wailing for too long and we must start to deal with issues and not focus on tissues,” Zanu PF spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo was quoted as having mourned.
We must admit that this is quite refreshing, especially coming from Zanu PF which has been controlling the country’s socio-economic and political levers since independence in 1980. Had the party acted sooner Khaya Moyo and colleagues would not be mourning as much as they are doing now.
Instead of listening to wise counsel from the Press and courageous musicians such as Mapfumo, Zanu PF has seen enemies in those warning them of the dangers of letting things such as corruption to manifest themselves in society and the governance systems.
Today corruption in the country is now so deep-rooted that all we can do is to wish Khaya Moyo and colleagues the best of luck because, we are afraid to say, the monster seems to have already completely captured the whole nation.
While many would like to conveniently lay all the blame on former President Robert Mugabe for the sorry state the southern African now finds itself in, we are of the conviction that Mugabe was only a product of a system which allowed him to let things fall apart.
All we can say to Khaya Moyo and Zanu PF is charity begins at home. They can start by finding out what happened to their so many companies. What pulled them under? Is it not corruption? What happened to the holding companies, ZIDCO and M&S Syndicate which administered those companies? Although some of the Zanu PF companies, which we shall not mention at the moment, are still running, are they operating optimally or they are being hamstrung by corruption within their midst? Corruption is a very grave issue that Zanu PF and its leaders really need to sit down over and do some serious soul searching, otherwise the mourning will continue for decades to come.
