Beyond the #USD15billion and the #Bicyclegate: Perfect illusions

Introduction

Zimbabwe has in the past few days been seized with yet another big case of fraud and corruption making the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Mr Jonathan Moyo the case for newspaper and tabloids headlines.  The Minister is facing allegations of having misappropriated an estimated USD430 000, some of which the Minister claims  to have used to buy bicycles for traditional chiefs in Tsholotsho and some of it for fuel coupons for the Zimbabwe Youth. The money is alleged to have been siphoned from the Zimbabwe Development Fund’s (ZIMDEF) budget which was meant for tertiary education.

This is a second case of mega fraud deals making headlines in less than 6months and seizing Zimbabwe’s attention.  Earlier in the year was the issue of the President’s public statements that the government lost USD15billion dollars from shady mining activities, in the diamond fields of Chiadzwa. The issue angered Zimbabweans and saw the Movement for Democratic Change’s group led by Morgan Tsvangirai organizing demonstrations in Harare, Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Gweru and Bindura.

Of the USD15billion and Minister Moyo’s #Bicyclegate

Fagio Marowa's petition on USD15billion

Earlier in the year, the President of Zimbabwe His Excellency Robert Mugabe announced on the state controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) that the country had lost USD15billion of potential revenue from shady mining activities in the Chiadzwa area. No public statement was issued by the government of Zimbabwe to explain how the leakages happened and what action they were going to take to address them. The Minister of Mines and Mining Development did not resign for poor oversight on the issue. Neither was the Minister relieved from his duties. On December 2015, the Reserve Bank governor Dr John Mangudya reported that Zimbabwe had lost at least USD500million through illicit financial flows in that year alone.

In response to the President’s USD15billion statement, in March 2016 one Fagio

Marowa

Fagio Marowa demonstrating at Parliament of Zimbabwe

took to a one-man demonstration and also submitted a petition to the Parliament of Zimbabwe, asking the August house to institute a Commission of Enquiry on the issue.  Later on in the year between May and June,  the opposition Movement for Democratic Change group led by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai carried out street demonstrations on the same cause. They had demonstrations in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Masvingo and Bindura.

What I am yet to find out is from who the party was demanding the USD15billion. Whether it was the Chinese mining firms, or the government of Zimbabwe? Or the Minister in his capacity as the government officer responsible for oversight in the Ministry? I am yet to find answers to these questions. 

Back then, everyone was talking about the 15billion. From the streets of Harare, by commuter omnibus rank marshals, to commuters, to the vendors selling vegetables to the rural communities where men and women were questioning if the country was still that rich to make USD15billion. The hardships manifesting through lack of doctors and medicines in hospitals and clinics; inaccessibility of the foreign currency with most families living below USD1; the high numbers of children being sent back from school for failure to meet fees’ obligations and the poor turnover of vegetables and other groceries in growth points because teachers, nurses, police officers and other civil servants in those localities were paid way after usual pay dates, made most believe that the country cannot make such big amounts as  USD15billion. And easily lose it like that, without track.

But as time went on, most have forgotten about the USD15billion.

MDC-T USD15billion protests

Today, we are again seized by Minister Jonathan Moyo’s #bicyclegate. According to local newspapers, Minister Moyo and his deputy Dr Gandawa misappropriated USD430 000 through shelf companies Wisebone Trading and Fuzzy Technologies. Minister Moyo claimed that he used some of the money to buy bicycles as an empowerment initiative for the poor traditional leaders in Tsholotsho. One wonders how a bicycle would be empowering for our elderly leaders in our rural communities where our dusty roads are in bad shape that I see most people walking the bicycles for the greater part of their trips. I will not talk much about that, it is a conversation for another day. Following the publicisation of the allegations and that the Minister was being sought for arrest, Mr Moyo has taken to social media acknowledging the misappropriation, however accusing the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) of being tribal and targeting him ‘only’.

The ZACC claims to have investigated the fraud case by Minister Moyo, his Deputy Mr Godfrey Gandawa and others following a tip off on the graft case by a whistle blower.  According to the Zimbabwe Herald , Minister Moyo had 3 allegations being levelled against him, together with his deputy Dr Godfrey Gandawa, as follows:

·        USD95 800 siphoned out under pretext to purchase 10x3 dimension printers

·        USD19 030 used to purchase 173 gents bicycles from Ace Cycles, another USD7 260 for additional 62 gents and 4 ladies bicycles distributed to his constituency in Tsholotsho.

·        USD 24 000 applied for by Gandawa as loan on behalf of Minister Moyo.

The allegations are wider than this with more information having been published by the Sunday Mail of 9 October including the allegations of USD118 500 used to buy 100 000litres of fuel allegedly signed for by the Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC) among other issues.

I am sure soon, most of us will also easily forget about the #bicyclegate and its related graft issues. And we move on.

Perfect illusions

While Zimbabwe’s economy has continued on a protracted decline, university graduates wallowing in the streets, women dying of birth and health complications because there are no medicines and no doctors in our public hospitals and clinics to mention a few problems bedevilling our country, perfect  illusions have continuously been played out before us. The perfect illusions of the USD15billion, the #bicyclegate and many others. And as usual, our energies have been focused on those illusions. Perfect illusions. To divert our attention on the real policy and systems reforms we want to see across the socio-economic and political spectrum.

The illusions are well orchestrated that they become reality. And knowingly or unknowingly we are made pawns in a chess game used to play factional cards of political parties. Knowingly or unknowingly. They say experience is the best teacher. I wish we could borrow from the precedence of the impunity that has been enjoyed in our country on similar issues.  And acknowledge that these scandals are mere illusions, diversionary tactics, meant to divert our attention and the consistent call for reforms. Or maybe we are expecting daylight miracles to happen.

The illusions are so perfect that we are made to forget that there are women who are pregnant today who are on their death row because our government is so broke that it cannot afford pethidine, a drug used to perform caesarean operations. Yet the political elites continue to feast on the little the national coffers have.

The illusions are so perfect that we forgive our dear Ministers who fail their oversight duty. They are so perfect that we cannot see beyond the ‘why me alone’ claims by Minister Moyo. He implies that he is not the ‘only corrupt one’, and yet we spend time expecting the ‘other corrupt’ ones to jail one of theirs. Yes he may be jailed… and he will appeal. Perfect illusions.

Conclusion

These illusions have from time to time taken our eyes off the real ball. All the allegations of corruption which play out in our media, especially when led by the state controlled media are what Minister Moyo described during the proliferation of the former Vice President Mujuru’s fall as just ‘political banter’. And it is political banter. For surely how do you have accusations that are never followed up with arrests? Or when the arrests happen, soon they are appealed and the accused go scot free.

The real ball remains the fact that all this blatant thievery by senior government officials is testimony to the need for genuine reforms we require to run a properly structured developmental state. And mind you, it is not just about political or electoral reforms. It cascades down to even economic reforms, ethics and sound corporate governance. Above all, it is about a leadership that is accountable to its citizens.