PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s anti-corruption fight has been exposed as nothing but hot air following revelations that less than US$2 million out of identified US$7 billion ill-gotten wealth stashed outside the country has been recovered in two years.
Mnangagwa promised a crackdown on corruption after being
sworn into office after a coup removed the late former president Robert Mugabe
in November 2017.
He said an estimated US$900 million had been externalised
outside the country, and gave the alleged culprits a three months grace period
to return the stolen proceeds, or face arrest.
In March 2018, he released a list of 1800 alleged looters
which included manufactures, miners, small businesses, state-owned entities and
even churches including individuals.
In February 2020, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission
(Zacc) said it had also identified US$7 billion in cash and properties stashed
worldwide by corrupt former and current senior government and Zanu PF officials
and other politically connected persons.
The assets were said to be stashed in South Africa, United
Kingdom, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Mauritius and Kenya among other
countries.
Two years later, the anti-corruption body now says it
managed to recover only US$1.5 million in assets, before admitting that it was
failing in its ambitious plan to recover US$7 billion of assets it had
identified.
“Zacc is in the process of recovering assets from U.A.E, UK
and South Africa. Assets from South Africa have been located with a value of
approximately US$1.5 million,” Zacc spokesperson John Makamure told The
Standard in an emailed response.
“The use of mutual legal assistance tends to take time
thereby extending the time frame for investigations. Interpol has been
helpful.”
When asked how far Zacc has gone in pursuing prosecutions
from the recovered US$1.5 million of assets, Makamure said: “We deal with the
civil aspect of Zacc cases. Investigations prefer charges.”
According to Makamure, locally, the anti-corruption body is
struggling to trace some of the identified US$20 million assets acquired from
proceeds of crime as they have allegedly been hidden.
“Properties are not registered in the subjects’ names so
searches tend to elongate the recovery processes,” he said.
“The rise of people buying vehicles on behalf of others
thereby registering vehicles in different names makes tracking of vehicles
difficult
“Stakeholders are still hesitant to signal corrupt
practices especially real estate properties especially where people purchase
properties using cash. They tend to ‘protect’ their clients at the loss of the
nation.”
The anti-corruption body has been quick to seize assets of
ordinary citizens accused of corruption, leaving political bigwigs who have
been mentioned in several reports in their involvement in grand corruption.
At some point, the Zacc earned a ‘catch and release’
moniker over its failure to secure convictions or recover alleged stolen assets
from bigwigs.
The anti-corruption fight has also assumed factional lines,
with politically exposed persons being subjected to arrest.
Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson
Fadzai Mahere said Mnangagwa’s tenure in office has been characterised by absence
of political will to fight corruption.
“From the US$3,5 billion that was looted under command
agriculture, the NSSA scandals, Rushwaya’s gold smuggling case, the Zinara episode, the Cottco scandal, Draxgate,
Covidgate all the way to the dirty Pomona deal, the last four years have been
replete with corrupt deals, elite state capture and a pandemic of looting that
have cost the nation over US$2 billion annually,” Mahere said.
“This excludes the over US$100 million lost to gold
smuggling every month. The big wigs are repeatedly caught and released with
very little done to recover the looted funds or hold those responsible to
account.
“The only solution is to vote in our millions for change in
2022 and install ethical leaders who have the political will to fight corrupt
and put the welfare of the citizens back at the centre of all decision-making.”
Political analyst Vivid Gwede said there was no political
will in the fight against corruption.
“The anti-corruption drive should not be about sound bites
or internal Zanu PF fights, but radically returning the country on the
visionary path envisaged by those who fought for independence,” Gwede said.
Anti-corruption watchdog, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt
and Development (Zimcodd) also weighed in doubting the capacity of Zacc to
recover stolen assets from abroad.
“We can consider the issue of capacitation to recover the
assets, thus are they sufficiently equipped? Do they have the technical
know-how to recover and retrieve these external assets?” Zimcodd programs
manager John Maketo asked.
“What are the international protocols and regulations for
the recovery of such assets? I strongly believe that Zacc does not have the
sufficient capacity to follow up on those issues.
“Also there is not enough evidence to show that Zacc has
the political will to recover siphoned assets both locally and externally. We
have seen numerous examples of catch and release. Hence for Zacc to effectively
deal with corruption there is need for capacitation and political will.”
Reports indicate that corrupt gangs within and outside the
government are creaming off assets worth billions of dollars annually from the
country. Standard
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