That is quite interesting, not least because the party leadership made their decision at State House, which is supposed to be a national, rather than party, facility. (Maybe they can be forgiven here because, after having monopolized power for decades, party and State had become so scrambled to them).
The decision, far from sending the signal of a party perching on moral and legal high ground, sparks a myriad of questions and hardly provides any answers or solutions.
I am not sure if the top Zanu (PF) hierarchy ever considered the fact that the $700,000 that Madiro and others are suspected to have extorted is dirty loot. As far as I am concerned— and I am sure millions of Zimbabweans share this sentiment —any money that comes from the Marange diamonds is blood money.
That is because of the manner in which various arms of government and the mining companies are handling extraction of the precious gems. As I have already pointed out in earlier instalments, a lot of underhand dealings are taking place in that area. Mysterious planes are landing on hastily constructed runways at the mines at night.
The majority of us, and that includes Finance Minister Tendai Biti, have no clue where the diamonds are going. We keep on hearing about all manner of human and other rights abuses, yet no action is being taken against the fingered culprits.
Why then should the presidium start from the wrong end of the process?
If people start killing others, do you begin by dealing with the person who eats meat from one dead person? Is it not common sense that you have to start with the murderers?
By this, of course, I am not by any measure trying to suggest that Madiro and the others should be tossed off the hook, no. What I am saying is they might just have eaten an ear or finger off one dead body, and it is the murderers who are supposed to get into the dock first.
Naturally, I am disturbed by the fact that the very people who are trying to show uprightness by suspending the five have not raised a finger over the much-repeated reports of abuses at Marange. It leads me to ask: “What part do they play in the Marange scandal?”
Studies and testimonies that have come out of the area are sufficient to make us speculate for a whole year, 24/7.
I also remember that, around December, President Robert Mugabe came out blazing against members of his party who were moving around lying in his name. It emerged later that there seemed to be a coterie in Zanu (PF) that had tried to extort (or maybe actually extorted) $10m from South African companies that intended to invest in Zimbabwe, claiming that part of the money would go to grease Mugabe.
Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, reportedly supplied Mugabe with that information in a tete-a-tete when the two met here late last year. What has become of these people who lied in Mugabe’s name? Why is the presidium not taking action against them?
This selectivity has become a familiar narrative in Zanu (PF). Certain areas that need attention are deliberately ignored, while isolated pockets are picked for what appears to be grandstanding.
I am firmly persuaded that massive fraud and corruption occurred at the Reserve Bank during the quasi-fiscal era, yet hardly any action has been taken. As we speak, influential people, among them cabinet ministers, have acquired enough wealth to fund the national budget yet nothing is happening to them.
In more than a decade, we have not been told what happened to the Zanu (PF) companies, yet there is rich prima facie evidence pointing towards massive looting at those firms. At parastatals, the stink is loud enough to wake up the whole of State House, but it is business as usual.
Yes, Madiro et al could be guilty, but it seems they are an easy target to feed into the barns because, after all, Manicaland has been performing so poorly in elections, with the majority of parliamentary seats now firmly in the hands of MDC. They should, though, face the wrath of the law, but unless the net is cast wide enough, I will see that as mere pretension on the part of Zanu (PF). – For feedback, please write to majonitt@gmail.com
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis
There is a good point here. These guys in Zanu (PF) have done worse than the devil could imagine. Madiro’s statement is telling, when he threatens those living glass houses. That means a lot is happening in that party.
John, I agree. Why dont we get into the glass houses that Madiro talks about and see what the cupboards hold.
Sometimes people make irresponsible statements. Why does this column by an otherwise intelligent sound and eloquent writer make the blanket accusation all the money from Marange is blood money? Do you know that the diamonds are audited and closely monitored? By the way, that is why KP certified. Wake up and smell the ngoda!