LEGISLATORS have accused the Executive of systematically stripping the country of its valuable assets and selling them through opaque deals, which observers say smells of deep-rooted corruption and plunder.
In a heated question-and-answer-session in Parliament last
Thursday, it emerged that government has been clandestinely disposing of
strategic entities such as mines and petroleum outlets without seeking
parliamentary approval, in flagrant breach of the country’s Constitution.
Early this month, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa
confirmed the sale of government-owned petroleum firms PetroTrade and Genesis,
saying: “The nation will recall that Cabinet in 2019 approved the merging of
the State-owned petroleum companies, namely PetroTrade (Pvt) Ltd and Genesis
Energy to form a single entity that would be partially privatised. Cabinet also
approved Independent Petroleum Group as the prospective strategic partner to
the merged petroleum company, subject to successful negotiations.”
In March this year, Energy minister Zhemu Soda suspended
the PetroTrade board just months after its appointment allegedly for resisting
the sale of the company. Back in 2021, government structured a deal that would
see 10 companies take control of Zimbabwe’s gold refiner, Fidelity Printers and
Refiners, for US$49 million.
However, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said government was
no longer selling Fidelity Printers.
“I want for the record to state that there is no
public-private partnership (PPP) that we have entered into. What we had
announced was something that we thought was a good idea, which was to partially
privatise Fidelity Gold Refineries (which) has been suspended indefinitely,”
Ncube told Parliament on Thursday. “We will look into it in future once we have
overhauled the company sufficiently so that we get good value for money from
whoever comes in to invest in the company. So at the moment, all PPPs in terms
of investments have been suspended indefinitely.”
Former Finance minister Tendai Biti (Citizens Coalition for
Change MP for Harare East) questioned the wisdom of selling off strategic
entities of national interests such as Fidelity Printers and Refiners.
“I am concerned with the very idea of wanting to privatise
Fidelity Gold Refinery. It eludes my wisdom why you would want to dispose of
that gold refinery given the strategic nature of gold in our country,” he said.
“For instance, ZB Bank has been privatised, First Mutual
Life was divested from NSSA [National Social Security Authority] and another
big bank was also divested from the State. Gold mines have been divested from
the State. Bindura Nickel (BNC) has been diverted from the State. Why are
privatisations occurring nocturnally or Nicodemously, in the shadow of darkness
outside Parliament?”
Harare North MP Rusty Markham (Citizens Coalition for
Change) said companies linked to ruling elite were clandestinely being awarded
tenders.
“We need to trace the companies. Their shareholding should
not be a secret. Some of the companies look dodgy and shadowy,” he said.
Kuvimba Mining House, linked to business mogul Kudakwashe
Tagwireyi and did not exist until 2020, has emerged to be arguably the
country’s largest gold producer after embarking on an acquisition spree of
lucrative gold assets around the country, including Shamva Mine, Freda Rebecca
and mines held by Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, namely Elvington,
Jena, Golden Kopje and Sandawana.
“Government purports to have shares in Kuvimba Mining
House. So it’s like the government puts its entities up for sale, only for it
to buy it with one of their companies. Does it even make sense? It shows that
something fishy is going on,” said analyst Pardon Taodzera.
South Africa-based Zimbabwe economics lecturer Romeo
Chasara believes that high-ranking officials were preparing their retirement by
stripping off the country’s assets.
Government officials have proxies in these companies that
act on their behalf. This is a sophisticated way of looting and plundering of
national assets. Most of these companies have offshore accounts and in the
event of political change, it will be difficult to trace all these monies being
siphoned outside the country. This is great looting in plain eyes,” Chasara
said.
Government has also been questioned over a number of
business deals with China after adopting the Look East Policy in the early
2000s as a counter strategy to Western sanctions.
During last Thursday’s question-and-answer session, Biti
also took Ncube to task after the minister presented contradictory figures on
how much the country owed China.
The Harare East legislator further pointed out a 2006
US$200 million Zimbabwe-China deal that saw Zimbabwe collateralising an
undisclosed asset worth more than US$52 billion.
Biti said: “I have two questions for the esteemed minister.
You said the amounts we owe to China are about US$1,7 billion, but your
mathematics is not adding up because you said total indebtedness to China was
US$2,7 billion and you have only paid US$152 million. So, if you subtract
US$152 million from US$2,7 billion, it does not give you US$1,7 billion, but
about US$2,6 billion.”
Ncube struggled to justify the deal, saying it needed to be
renegotiated. Newsday
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