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Stop corruption now and end poverty and deprivation
National Anti Corruption Day Commemoration
Hon. Philip Chiyangwa, MP
October 26, 2002

Preamble
Mr/Madam Chair, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentleman, may I thank you for the honour you have bestowed upon me to make this presentation on the topic ‘stop corruption now and end poverty and deprivation’. I am indebted to you.

Mr/Madam Chair, corruption is a vice, an insipid international crime in this country and most countries the world over yet it exists.

The reason for its continued existence is not hard to find. Corruption is nurtured by us through accepting lower standards. Ladies and Gentleman, in our beloved country bureaucracies are the norm, be it in the Public sector, Private sector or Civil Society Sector. We are a straitjacket nation that lives by protocol and any deviance from protocol is heavily censured.

It is this capacity to censure deviancy that bestows power, authority and legitimacy in our society and national norms. There is thus an obsession for power and authority to influence events that is entrenched in this whole nation that has seen an unprecedented surge in corrupt activities. Mr/Madam Chair, there is a scramble for power, not for power’s sake but because power bestows upon its own the capacity to determine the course of events using various means and ways - legal or otherwise it does not matter.

Politics
One of the ‘rights’ power and authority holders acquire from their privileged positions is the capacity to deny or grant access. Any holder of this capacity, regardless of which sector he/she is, can exercise this discretion in a corrupt manner unless there are adequate checks and balances on the extent of the power and authority such persons wields.

As an example, the Public sector is a State functional arm tasked with implementing State policies as formulated by the three pillars of State governance namely The Executive, The Legislature and The Judiciary.

Reports are awash in both public and private media that people are failing to access such basic facilities as birth certificates, passports, drivers licenses, national registration certificates etc unless they are connected .The queues for bread, milk, sugar, petrol, cooking oil, maize meal and other essentials at public outlets in contrast to the availability of same commodities on the black market is ample evidence of how bureaucracy can be manipulated by those in power to deny access and induce deprivation in Zimbabwean society.

It is not only in public politics that corruption and deprivation is entrenched. There have been numerous incidences where civic society has been embroiled in the corruption cobweb. Take for example the reported selective distribution of food aid by NGOs on Political Party lines, the resistance by commercial farmers of the land reform initiatives, the denial of worshipping and participatory rights in some churches etc.

The manipulation of power in civil society to attain an objective, which may or may not be in the interest of the nation or membership of the civic bodies, is in itself a manipulation of the corrupt machinations of the politics of those Organisations

The bottom line is they, like state politics, use denial of access and permission to access effectively to influence behaviour of their member’s. In so doing, some are put in positions of advantage while others, mainly the majority powerless are deprived.

Implications
The implications of all this politicking in private sector, creating cartels to withhold products to press for price increases, the public sector using red tape to delay access to vital documents and services, civil society to blackmail the electorate and arouse emotions in citizens at large - they call it creating awareness of human rights - is that polarization manifests and a deep sense of national mistrust is entrenched.

Vast amounts of money are poured into Public Relations, to spruce up and defend ones public image locally which amounts could have found better use in poverty alleviation programmes.

The leakages through corruption result in the emergence of parallel trade markets that have the effects of pushing inflation upwards and affecting societal living standards.

Laws are often broken or short-circuited to favour some at the expense of others in a bid to defend ones position. Ultimately the whole economy recedes into an abyss and hunger and poverty takes a stranglehold on the majority.

Mr/Madam Chair, it is evident that we can be a better nation without corruption or as a little of it as is possible.

To achieve this the State must take a lead. First Legislation against corruption must be tabled before Parliament and stiffer deterrent sentences entrenched.

The law enforcement agencies must then take an effective role in enforcing the law. To achieve this there is need to ensure adequate remuneration is paid to all law enforcement agencies such that the temptation of bribes is minimised. Further to that, civil servants must be paid liveable incomes that can sustain them for a month and highest standards of service delivery must be demanded of them. All supervisory positions in the civil service up to the President s Office must maintain an open door policy when dealing with inquiries, be they from citizens or foreigners and decisions on services delivery must be generally decentralised.

The private sector must apply itself to the principles of entrepreneurial development of the country. They must desist from active and direct participation in politics. They must concentrate on finding the best methods of producing reasonably priced products and services for national and export market.

Their involvement in the politics of creating artificial shortages whenever they want to raise prices must be a thing of the past because all it serves is to deprive the poor consumers and irk the State.

Civil society has been at the forefront of politicking and whipping emotions against the Government for political agendas and party politics in the name of Human Rights protection is corruption that closely borders on reason. That must stop. Any aide with strings attached is itself corrupted aide. Zimbabwe needs no such aide. It is blackmail.

Ladies and Gentleman we cannot stop perception but we can join to understand the real nature and context of corruption and hopefully stop it without favour or prejudice.

Public perception on corruption
The public has its own perception on corruption when we speak of stopping corruption.I need to be clear on what we are talking about. It is the perception that we wish to stop on real corruption.

All of you will agree with me here that if we were to take a census or a poll of what and who the public think is corrupt, ZANU PF and anyone appointed to it would top the list.

How did our society get to politicisation of corruption where stopping corruption essentially means removing Zanu PF from power. So organisations like TIZ mission becomes political to the extent that the only way to stem out corruption is regime change.

Is our understanding complete or a reflection of our ignorance as to the actual cause of corruption. Having been privileged to chair the NECF's Anti Corruption Task force, I have some insight that I believe have earned me a place to address you.

Whereas the perception is that Zanu PF is corrupt cannot be denied, the reality on the ground points somewhere else.

Apart from a few individuals including myself who have made it, I find no former Zanu PF Minister or Senior Activist who is a graduate of corruption. They live and die poor and yet the public thinks otherwise.

In this climate individuals like myself become the target of public outrage.

This manifests itself when my personal lifestyle becomes the basis on which corruption is defined.

If I drive a BMW/Mercedes Benz this is misconstrued by the public. Is not it ironic that there are more high quality BMWs and Mercedes Benz that are driven by people not associated to Zanu PF and yet my brother here DR MAKUMBE may not even want to know.

If one visits Borrowdale Brooke /Folyjon crescent, Chishawasha Hills and Highlands one finds expensive homesteads whose value would be sufficient to feed the whole nation during this drought period and maybe less than one percent of the residents are remotely connected to Zanu PF.

Recently there have been reports of Old Mutual being involved in a scandal that saw US$5Million being externalised from Zimbabwe at a time when the country needs foreign currency and yet TIZ could not have this case in its books as a corruption example. You are all aware of the FML scandal were corruption was acknowledged and no one has been brought to book, cases abound of gross abuse of power and privilege in the corporate sector as well at the ZSE and yet TIZ is silent. Cases like Export Leaf Tobacco of US$40Million and MIPF but we find TIZ tight-lipped MAKAMBOPUHWEI, that silence is CORRUPTION

Corruption has no political face, age, has no colour, religion creed and yet some of my colleagues in the Anti Corruption crusade would see otherwise.

Ladies and Gentleman I have to be direct for the sake of bringing to bear the responsibility of every Zimbabwean to guard jealously on the activities of everybody not a selected few, because of their political association.

I thank you.

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