What has emerged is a lame statement read out by Jonathan Moyo, saying that Mugabe is ‘dismayed by the undeniable rot’. It is strange that Mugabe, a man given to public speaking, is issuing statements through a third party on a matter of such importance. It is perplexing that he is so ‘dismayed’ that he keeps George Charamba as his close aide. As a director at the beleaguered Psmas, Charamba pocketed $100K, an amount which was, no doubt, sufficient incentive for him to turn a blind eye to Dube’s astronomical salary. Charamba too was secretary of information while Muchechetere looted.
The holy grail of journalism is to write news articles of great consequence. For years, state media has been shackled by politicians who prefer that the masses only see the sanitised version of reality. When state media was recently unfastened from its leash and given liberty to sniff out the dirt, there was a general feeling that the country had turned a corner. Even the independent press felt upstaged and envious of those responsible for the corruption exposés. But now it is clear that it was a ruse.
There is one school of thought which believes that the recent loosening of controls in state media is Zanu (PF)’s attempt at wooing investors. But failure to act on corruption – particularly the Masimirembwa case which is directly linked to foreign investment – does little to encourage inflow of foreign capital. Masimirembwa extorted $6M from Ghanaian businessmen, advertising Zimbabwe as unsafe for business.
Another explanation is that Zanu (PF) is aware that seven months have elapsed since the July 2013 election and, so far, none of their lofty campaign promises have been realised. Rather than 2million new jobs, industry is shrinking. Instead of infrastructure restoration, there is news of a Zupco bus being swept away at a bridge. ZimAsset – the latest Zanu (PF) catch phrase – is about as mythical as the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end. – Till next week, my pen is capped. Jerà
Post published in: News