The new look Loice Matanda-Moyos’ Zacc is bubbling with energy, seeing itself arresting a whole Government Minister just two weeks into office. The Commission has set itself a very high standard and a lot is at stake for its name, this much they know. The public expects nothing but joy from Zacc and is not in any forgiving mood if Zacc falls short of this.
According to the law, every suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Despite that the court of public opinion has already tried, convicted and sentenced Environment and Tourism Minister Priscah Mupfumira to a very long stay in jail for her alleged theft of close to a billion dollars from NSSA alone, during her short stint as Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister.
Nobody but a competent court of law can convict a suspect. If there is any grain of truth in the allegations levelled against the minister, the law must take its course in full. Speaking of NSSA alone, it is a public secret that pensioners are not getting a decent monthly pension commensurate with their service to the nation during their day as energetic workers. It is also not a secret that pensioners lost lifetime savings during the hyperinflationary period which picked in 2008 and that a bulk of their other lifetime savings in other mutual investments were trashed to nothing when the Zimbabwe Dollar fell in 2009. It doesn’t require a bucketful of conscience that pensioners deserve some empathy in their state of affairs. If a billion dollars can be stolen from a department alone within a ministry, the public will not be imagining too much if they begin to suspect that tens of billions are getting stolen from the consolidated revenue fund with too little or nothing getting done at the end.
Every patriotic citizen has a duty to contribute to the fight against corruption and anyone who neglects or opposes this effort is an indisputable enemy of the state. Zacc has a national responsibility which can create a difference for a generation.
Many cases of corruption have been mentioned, it remains the duty of Zacc and its stakeholders to test the claims made thereof to clear the air. Indeed, a people overburdened by corruption can throw about falsehoods and untested claims, it is their right. It is the right and responsibility of Zacc too to bring to their crime-fighting laboratories the said claims so that the accused may be declared innocent or guilty. A number of individuals’ reputation has been stained by corruption allegations that have not been put to the test to qualify the said claims.
While mentioned allegations of graft are too numerous to mention on limited space like on this publication, the effects of corruption on the society can be summarized. The biggest customer and victim of corruption is the poor and downtrodden. Poor people have scant social safety nets and hence they rely on public, government funded amenities to give them basic comforts. With a government incapacitated by corruption, there becomes a shortage or nonexistence of the said social safety nets.
I’ve spoken about pensioners. Pensioners are disadvantaged and economically inactive persons who rely on hand outs from significant others. The predicament of the pensioner is felt by other concerned and economically active family members. So, stealing from pensioners creates a family-wide crisis that will demand resources to cover the gap. The disabled, orphans, the mentally challenged, children, the uneducated, the ill and the unemployed, all fit into this bracket. It gets very disappointing to hear that the little meant to cushion this group of people has been squandered by an individual entrusted to protect their pool of shared resources from plunder. Over and above the theft, the same dishonest public official ironically draws a salary for stealing from the same people who entrusted him/her to that duty. Who will guard the guard in this case? The law must take its course and Zacc comes in handy.
Roads, bridges, dams, schools, hospitals, airports and universities are all products of the public purse. If thieves charge towards the public purse and nobody is there to scare them off, a primitive accumulation party ensues. This must not happen.
Corruption kills. If resources meant to build hospitals are looted to purchase yachts and holiday homes abroad, the poor will die from simple treatable diseases in their houses while the looters enjoy undeserved holidays. Government has a duty to protect not just its power, but the lives of the people from unscrupulous public officers. A government with an unprotected citizenry has no power. The power of government lies in empowered citizens.
I have lashed at public sector corruption. I will dedicate my next column on private sector graft. It is also there, despite the traditional silence on its existence. Corruption is corruption regardless of who commits it.
