FEATURE: Big fish netted in Mnangagwa anti-corruption drive, opposition sceptical

Zimbabwean opposition remains sceptical of President Mnangagwa’s anti-corruption drive.

PRETORIA, March 10 (ANA) – Zimbabwe’s former first lady Grace Mugabe and a group of her associates are being investigated by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) following complaints that they grabbed residential stands worth US$10 million without paying from an upmarket development on state land in the upmarket Borrowdale suburb.

State-owned newspaper The Herald this week reported that complaints have been lodged with the ZACC and the Special Anti-Corruption Unit in the president’s office.

Zimbabwe’s popular read Zim Morning Post reported earlier this month that Grace is on the radar of the Special Anti-Corruption Unit to answer charges of allegedly grabbing land from a property developer and fraudulently acquiring title deeds with the help of former cabinet minister Ignatius Chombo.

Chombo was last month arrested on charges emanating from his tenure as minister of local government from year 2000 to 2015, including accusations of facilitating the grabbing of residential stands by Grace Mugabe, who allegedly gave some of these stands to close family members and other relatives.

While the ZACC now has Grace Mugabe and Chombo under its microscope for undue influence and corruption which allegedly took place during the reign of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe has also witnessed an unprecedented number of high-profile arrests since President Emmerson Mnangagwa rose to power in 2017 with promises of reform and an anti-corruption crusade.

In 2019, a cabinet minister and long-time ally of Mnangagwa, Joram Gumbo, was arrested for abuse of office that is alleged to have cost the government of Zimbabwe US$3.7 million.

The ZACC, appointed by Mnangagwa in July 2019, had also charged tourism minister Prisca Mupfumira with seven counts of criminal abuse of office for allegedly forcing the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) into dodgy investment deals leading to a prejudice of more than US$95 million during the time she was public service, labour and social welfare minister.

After her arrest, Mupfumira’s bail application was denied by Harare magistrate Elijah Makomo. In denying Mupfumira bail, Makomo ruled that the fired cabinet minister was a flight risk, among several other grounds.

Last year, law-enforcement authorities in Zimbabwe arrested then health minister Obadiah Moyo after the Harare government came under severe criticism from opposition parties and activists on social media over a large-scale scandal surrounding the procurement of Covid-19 testing equipment and personal protective equipment.

There have been numerous high-profile arrests of senior government officials, while others have fled the country.

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF and government communication officials have repeatedly hailed these arrests as a pure reflection of the Mnangagwa government’s commitment to fighting corruption, adding that the arrests prove no one is immune from prosecution.

“Curbing corruption in Zimbabwe has been and remains a priority of President Mnangagwa’s government. In the second republic, the president gave teeth to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to investigate all reported and suspected cases of corruption without looking at an individual’s station in the social strata,” Zanu PF’s spokesperson in South Africa Kennedy Mandaza told the African News Agency (ANA) in Pretoria.

“Arrests and investigations of the so-called high-profile people witnessed in Zimbabwe are an indication of the seriousness with which the government through ZACC intends to curb corruption in the country. The fight against corruption by the government seeks to bring confidence in the economy and inculcate a culture of earning from honest hard work.”

Mandaza emphasised that the “arrest of corrupt individuals is not targeted” at specific individuals or groups of people.

“The president, comrade Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, made it very clear that in the fight against corruption there will be no small or big fish. Therefore those found on the wrong or are suspected to be on the wrong should expect ZACC to conduct its constitutional role in dealing with suspected cases of corruption,” said Mandaza.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-A) led by the youthful Nelson Chamisa, remains unconvinced. Chairperson of the MDC-A in South Africa Trust Ndlovu said numerous “big fish” fingered in corrupt deals in Zimbabwe continue to walk free on the streets of Harare.

“That commission (ZACC) that claims to be investigating corruption in Zimbabwe is just a window-dressing exercise. It is something that is trying to clean Emmerson Mnangagwa and his own cronies, but unfortunately it is not doing that. It is a one-sided thing, and a clampdown on all those suspected of being part of the G-40 faction of Zanu PF. This has nothing to do with the national agenda,” said Ndlovu.

“In this case we talk about people like Ignatious Chombo and this Grace Mugabe. It is just a small issue as compared to the big cartels that are actually massively looting the government coffers and involved in corrupt activities, starting with the head of state himself, Emmerson Mnangagwa. He is part of this looting and total destruction. He has done it, and behind the scene he is part of all the illegal activities. You know how Mnangagwa is involved in the mining, oil, land development and all the projects that are all over the country.”

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher