It is time for us to make painful decisions. We must be able to say Your Excellency the President, this is the list of Ministers that you have given, this one must be subjected to due process. This one because of this, must go there. This one because of this, he must go there. This one because of this, must go to court. There are people who sit in Cabinet who in all honesty must not be sitting in Cabinet. They must be in Chikurubi. What they are doing in Cabinet I do not understand –[HON. CHINAMASA: Bring evidence.]- The Hon. Minister here says come with the evidence – the house that was built by the former Commissioner General of Police, you know his salary, you know how much he earns, how does he afford to build a house which is bigger than Holiday Inn. That is the evidence. What more evidence do you want? If you see a 14 year old girl pregnant and the father says my daughter was raped and the Minister says bring the evidence. She is pregnant, it means somebody had sex with her and made her pregnant. What more evidence do you want when pregnancy is there?
The Hon. Minister must know that 75% of the problems in this country is not because people are not paying taxes, it is not because there is a huge informal sector. Seventy-five per cent of the problems in this country are because people in high places are corrupt. It is simple and straightforward. This is because of corruption. What is the Minister saying trying to defend the indefensible? You must continue Hon. Minister to protect the guilty. If you continue to protect the guilty – we were patient for 37 years, I can guarantee you now that Zimbabweans will not have another 37 years to wait. Trust me on that. Zimbabweans will not have another 37 years to wait. I will not have another 37 years to wait because if I wait another 37 years, by then I will be 90 and I will be of no use. I do not have that time. The time to act is now.
If nothing happens to those Ministers that are facing allegations of corruption, I will tell you what we would do. We will effect citizen’s arrest outside. We will arrest them because the Constitution allows us to do that. You will still be looking for evidence Hon. Minister and those people will be arrested. When we arrest them, we will cause a scene and see what the President is going to do. Is he going to exonerate them before they go to court or are they going to go to court and get convicted and then he pardons them.
This is a new dispensation. A new dispensation means a new way of doing things. A new way of doing things means there should be no sacred cows. If there should be no sacred cows, the axe should start chopping people that are in Cabinet. If we say to members in Cabinet please declare your assets, there will be a funeral in this House. People will come into this House and all these Hon. Members will be mourning like they are at a funeral because there are people that we know that we grew up with. I grew up in the dusty streets of Mabvuku and there are Ministers that I know who grew up wherever they grew up – poorer than the way I grew up. The moment they joined ZANU PF, they are put into Cabinet; all of a sudden, wow, they are rich. That is why today you find that ministers have several small houses because they can afford to do it. Without money, you cannot afford to have small houses.
Those are serious issues that His Excellency the President must address. If the President does not address that, he is going to suffer what is called collateral damage. Former President Mugabe, we removed him using an impeachment because of collateral damage. Probably, the former President Mugabe himself did not commit any acts of corruption but because he allowed corruption to take root within his watch. His Excellency the President, when he comes back before he goes to Davos, he must deal with these issues of his ministers.
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