The question that remains unanswered is, why has Mugabe kept this information to himself all along? His silence confirms speculation that he has deliberately avoided confronting the corrupt ministers and senior party officials either to sustain his grip to power, or because he personally received kick-backs from them – directly or indirectly.
What Mugabe should do now, now that he has gone public about hiding crucial information generously supplied by Thabo Mbeki many years ago, is to ask members of the public to bring forward evidence involving cases of corruption among government ministers, both current and past, so that he can fire them.
He has already received such evidence from the court case about inappropriate dealings in the diamond trade involving an official of a company who was asked for a bribe by the Minister of Mines. What has he done to that minister? Nothing that we know of. So how can we be sure that he is now serious?
Unless Mugabe walks his talk, the people of Zimbabwe are advised not to take him seriously.
To prove that this talk is mere politicking to win votes, the media, all parliamentarians who are not corrupt, civic society and other players must compile credible evidence of corrupt activities by senior Zanu (PF) officials, and present this to Mugabe and let Zimbabweans see for themselves what he will do with the information.
Probably it has finally dawned on Mugabe that the legacy he is leaving behind does not help his children. Maybe he wants to correct his past before he hands over the baton to a new democratically elected President next year? If that is the case, I would expect him to use his remaining few months in office to clean up his legacy.
Zimbabweans have heard Mugabe’s lies for too long and it is now time to expose him for what he is. – Benjamin Chitate, New Zealand
Post published in: Letters to the Editor