Independent Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa says President Robert Mugabe’s cabinet is so corrupt that if ministers were arrested for their corrupt activities only two would be spared. He, however, did not name the two.
Opposition legislator James Maridadi said Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa was the most sincere and honest minister in Mugabe’s government that is why he was poor.
Mliswa said if corrupt ministers were arrested there would be so many by-elections that the government would not be able to raise the money to conduct the elections.
He accused President Robert Mugabe of protecting the corrupt and asked why Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo was still running around free when his deputy Godfrey Gandawa had been arrested and was appearing before the courts.
“I do not want at all to seem willingly to be personal with Hon. Prof Moyo but he is in charge of the Higher and Tertiary portfolio in government. He is equally in charge of ZIMDEF and we have a body mandated to investigate corruption which is Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission. To date, it has carried out tasks and it has equally recommended that there should be an arrest,” Mliswa said.
Mliswa said what was baffling was that the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front had decided to conduct its own investigations into Moyo’s case when there was a more competent body to do so.
“For your own information, members who investigate, who are part of the investigating team in ZACC are commissioned police officers. These people are recommended by the Commissioner General himself. These people have gone through a system which we all have paid money for. They have taken oath but when they then investigate and you doubt them; when we are equally doubting institutions which are in the Constitution, where are we going as a country?”
Mliswa said if Moyo has no case to answer why does he not appear before the courts like others have done and get exonerated.
“If surely Hon. Prof. Moyo has no case to answer, what we know before is that he just appeared before the courts like what some of us have done before. The Deputy Minister is before the courts but what then surprises everyone is that the Deputy Minister is before the courts but the Minister is not. How could you accuse the Deputy Minister when we talk about the role of oversight by Ministers. Ministers, do not spend too much time drinking tea in Cabinet. I think you must equally spend time in having oversight over your personnel. You are responsible for the Ministry and the Permanent Secretary is not. We now need the head to really know what is going on. Failure by the head to know what is going on, you are equally implicated. How are you exonerated?”
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