The government investigation spans the broad economic
spectrum, with a special focus on identifying, exposing and arresting intricate
syndicates fuelling graft.
As reported in the Zimbabwe Independent last week, part of the
investigations have also identified top government officials at the Ministry of
Mines and Mining Development, who have scuttled foreign direct investment (FDI)
into Zimbabwe’s economy by soliciting bribes from potential investors.
According to the probe, Zimbabwe Geological Survey director
Forbes Mugumbate and director of research, value-addition and beneficiation in
the Mines ministry Tichaona Makuza are accused of allegedly asking for bribes
from a South African mining firm Lephalale chairperson Cliff Motsepe and chief
operating officer Mashile Mokono.
The duo at the Mines and Mining Development ministry, is
accused of asking for bribes during a meeting held with Motsepe and Mokono on
March 29, 2021.
In the latest investigation on the Lands, Agriculture,
Water and Rural Resettlement ministry, initial findings suggest that the
department has degenerated into a “haven of corruption activities”, fuelled by
closely knit syndicates with tentacles spreading beyond the country’s porous
borders.
A document shows that the fresh
investigation implicated top officials at the Agriculture ministry who were
enriching themselves through corruption at the expense of key national
projects.
“Reference is made to a memorandum from the deputy Director
General-Operations of December 2020, wherein it was stated that information was
received that the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement
has become a haven of corruption activities,” a government investigation report
reads.
Subsequently the graft, according to the document,
sabotaged “key government projects, thereby prejudicing the state and enriching
individuals at the expense of the government coffers”.
The document was generated on February 22, 2021.
A trail of the correspondence shows that a top government
official had assigned a department to roll out an operation that would expose
the extent of the industrial-scale corruption at the Agriculture ministry.
“The memorandum further called for an exhaustive
investigation into the operations of key personnel at the ministry including an
elaborate operational plan to expose the rot. The main terms of reference of
the operation are: (to) account for the lifestyles of targeted personnel
(within) the ministry,” the document reads.
The document emphasises that the “issuance and payment of
licenses, permits and fees” was replete with graft, while officials at the
ministry were demanding bribes from investors, resulting in capital flight.
It reads: “Preliminary information gathered has revealed
that possible corrupt synergies in the issuance and payment of licenses,
permits and fees begins from various low-level officers to the directorship
level, with complacency at secretarial and ministerial level enabling the rot.
The issuance of import and exports permits is also marred with irregularities.
“The syndicates also span all the way to road blocks, and
to exit and entry points into Zimbabwe. It is alleged that kickbacks are
demanded for the implementation of various projects, a practise which is
leading to investor fatigue.”
The report noted that “cabinet reshuffles”, which often
result in officials being deployed to new ministries, created a fertile ground
for government bureaucrats to ask for bribes from potential investors.
The investigation’s findings were submitted to “Number 1”,
a term widely used within the government ranks to refer to the President.
Approached for comment, Agriculture deputy minister
Vangelis Haritatos could not explain measures put in place to contain
corruption at his ministry.
With the ruling Zanu PF party gripped by factional
squabbles supposedly between Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga and Mnangagwa,
the document revealed how the internecine fights affected economic revival
projects.
“The main terms of reference of the operation are to:
investigate the personal and political fights within the party (Zanu PF) which
spill over to the ministry thereby affecting key projects,” reads the document,
in part.
Zanu PF regards agriculture as a low hanging fruit, whose
potential, if realised, could be utilised to boost election prospects during
the 2023 polls.
Though Mnangagwa’s administration has vociferously spoken
against economic saboteurs, the problem persists.
According to the Agriculture ministry, some of the
programmes under the portfolio include Pfumvudza, the Accelerated Irrigation
Rehabilitation Programme, the Belarus Farm Mechanisation Programme, the John
Deere Farm Mechanisation Programme and Local Manufacture of Farm Implements.
Over the years, state enterprises under the ministry have
been hamstrung by corruption and mismanagement.
Some of the parastatals include CSC, Agriculture Marketing
Authority (AMA), AgriBank, Agriculture Research Council (ARC), Grain Marketing
Board (GMB) and Pig Industry Board (PIB).
During former President Robert Mugabe’s time, the ministry
was cast into the vortex of corruption scandals after it emerged that the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe splurged millions of United States dollars in loans to
senior Zanu PF and government officials that were never paid under the farm
mechanisation programme.
Lending details of the farm mechanisation programme, once a
closely guarded government secret only came to light after Mugabe was pushed out
of power in 2017.
The bad loans were taken over by the government and passed
on to the taxpayer under the Debt Assumption Act of 2015. Zimbabwe Independent
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