BY BLESSED MHLANGA
A MONTH after the Zanu PF youth league named alleged corrupt Zanu PF bigwigs, ministers, government officials and business people, the matter seems to be slowly dying a natural death.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised the Zanu PF politburo that he would name a commission to investigate the corruption allegations which fingered, among others, party secretary for administration Obert Mpofu and some ministers, among them Joram Gumbo, but nothing has happened on the ground.
An insider told NewsDay that Mnangagwa was facing a legal and political hurdle in appointing the commission to look into the alleged corrupt activities by his top aides.
“The President faces a dilemma legally because there is the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, which has a role in dealing with corruption. Then we have the police and on top of that, in the Office of the President is a crack team, all mounted for the war on corruption. So appointing another commission would be an overdose,” the source said.
The source added that politically exposing Zanu PF bigwigs would give ammunition to the opposition ahead of crucial elections in 2023, where Mnangagwa will be looking forward to secure his second term.
“It is not wise to ruffle feathers with Mpofu and Speaker of the House of Assembly Jacob Mudenda, who are key figures in Matabeleland. It will also spell doom for the (Zanu PF) party if some of the ministers are dragged in public over corruption because in defence of themselves, they will implicate the party and its leadership,” the source added.
But Zanu PF deputy secretary for the youth league, Lewis Matutu, said the youths were sticking to their guns and wanted corruption flushed out of the party, government and private sector.
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“We are not going to stop. We have more names and we will soon be naming the people involved, this time touching on land barons. The President does not want corruption. The country is suffering owing to corruption, so unless we deal with that, we can’t move forward,” he said.
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said Mnangagwa would announce the commission when he was ready and there was no chickening out.
“We are quite confident that the President will announce the commission. He did not say the time frame when it will be appointed. There is absolutely no chickening out. Why should he? It was a decision made by the politburo and it will be implemented,” Moyo said.
