Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-Jonathan Moyo’s ongoing drama with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has revealed the muddy trenches through which state institutions and parastatals are being drawn, a scenario that has resulted in the failure on many of them.
The Higher Education Minister is being accused of corruptly using state funds to finance among other things, his constituency and some ZANU PF party activities.
Moyo and Gandawa are accused of abusing over $400 000 of Zimdef funds, with documents leaked by investigators and government sources stating that part of the money was used to fund Zanu PF projects.
According to some media reports some senior government officials and intelligence sources claimed Zacc is preparing to lodge a complaint with Mugabe over the leaked letters and other documents, accusing Moyo and his associates of leaking the documents that have left the party’s funding mechanism exposed.
Many parastatals have collapsed in recent years with some still subsisting as government appendages milking more than they are bringing.
This has also resulted in calls for their privatisation so as to increase profitability and reduce reliability on the state fiscus.
Audits have been carried out on the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and Cold Storage Company whilst four turnaround strategies are under consideration by Cabinet relating to the Industrial Development Corporation, Zimbabwe National Water Authority, Agriculture and Rural Development Authority and TelOne will provide the baseline for the appropriate restructuring framework.
Government is still struggling with due diligence and designing as well as implementation reform strategies for each of these companies.
It is also battling with how to reduce the bloated workforce at GMB, TelOne and National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ).
Zimbabwe has about 78 state enterprises with a capacity to contribute 40% to gross domestic product.
The state-owned enterprises — which cover a vast swathe of the economy — used to be the locomotive of economic growth and sources of employment, but mismanagement, corruption and crippling debts have bled them to wrecks.
The Jonathan Moyo debacle has brought to light just another manner in which these state companies often find themselves mired in insolvency as politicians randomly abuse them for party expediency.
In his defence in papers filed with Zacc Moyo’s deputy Godfrey Gandawa said something so startling but revealed the warped mindset and new paradigms of thought that govern these politicians.
“As part of skills development for youth, we supported the youth mobilisation programme leading to the million-man march,” he told the commission.
“This included comprehensive multimedia support in all newspapers, TV and radio stations”.
“These included: design messages, supply media facilities, video filming and editing, live streaming of event, logistics for participants and designed #OurFlag and purchased the flags to counter Evan Mawarire’s #This Flag campaign.”
To them funding anti-Mawarire campaigns is a form of skills development for youth. Busing-in rural youths to march in solidary with President Mugabe is a type of skills development.
These are the new lows in which the country is operating at and expecting economic turnaround in such circumstances becomes a dreamy wish better left in dreamland.
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