The upper classes today consist mainly of politicians, army bosses and well-connected business owners and farming magnates. We all know where they got their massive assets from and at whose expense. What amazes me is someone like Orbert Mpofu, who has bought up scores of properties in Zimbabwe and recently funded the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group to the tune of $22,8 million through his company Trebor Khays. (Trebor being an anagram of Orbert). He claims he is just a “shrewd businessman”, does he really think we are so stupid?
Finance Minister Tendai Biti recently said he found it difficult to relate the wealth accumulated by cabinet colleagues to their monthly government salaries of $800. Another of Mpofu’s businesses is Kahanondo Safaris, who offer the best of upmarket tourism, and whose fleet of vehicles for hire make the poor locals drool with envy as they are forced to travel in dangerous ‘chovvas’ and can only dream about leather interiors and sleek mercs.
Harare is like the Mercedes Benz capital of the world, while top of the range Hummers, Lamborghinis and other fancy cars race around the city. These nouveau riche prefer not to shop here. They fly to foreign countries and grab whatever they can lay their hands on, while the rest of us poor souls languish at home, living in squalid conditions. Our politicians think nothing of a jaunt to Rio, gobbling up $7 million, to attend, of all things, a Sustainable Development Conference.
In his 2012 Budget Review Biti warned about the extravagant travel costs of senior officials, saying $45.5 million had been blown on foreign trips last year. Mugabe’s regular trips to the Far East for health care would build a new hospital a month in this country. – Posted on Sokwanele by Simon Moyo
Post published in: News