Zimbabwe’s Public Sector Replete With NSSAgate Type Corruption - Patrick Zhuwao

A former minister in President Robert Mugabe’s government, Patrick Zhuwao, has said that the type of corruption at NSSA which saw the possible prejudice of US$ 175 million is common in Zimbabwe’s public sector.

In an article titled “Legacy of the Heroes has been tainted – It was never restored” Zhuwao writes:

Zimbabwe continues to regress deeper into poverty and suffering. The nation is captured through the AK47. Members of the security establishment have been using mafia-style strategies and techniques to force themselves onto national resources. They have run roughshod on corporate governance in the country’s public sector institutions. Even standard regulations designed to protect the environment are wilfully violated by entities that are linked to this mafia.

The media reports of a classic example of such corporate governance violations involves Africom which is 51% owned by Fernhaven Investments, one of whose directors is General SB Moyo, the coup announcer. Despite board misgivings, NSSA, a minority shareholder with only 4.5% shareholding in Africom, became the sole guarantor of a US$15 million loan from Afrimex to Africom.

Africom persistently defaulted on the loan and Afrimex demanded its money. NSSA, as the guarantor, made payments to Afrimex. Fernhaven was to have indemnified NSSA by providing security for the loan in the form of Longcheng Plaza which, coincidentally, was built on wetlands in flagrant violation of environmental protection standards and norms.

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Zimbabwe’s public sector is replete with such examples of wide spread plunder and looting which include the US$15 billion diamond heist and the US$3 billion command agriculture scandal. The proceeds of such unparalleled theft of public resources do not filter to the ordinary Zimbabwean or even the ordinary veteran of the liberation struggle. Yet, very sadly, the majority of Zimbabwe’s veterans of the liberation struggle are used and paraded as the reason why such entities as Fernhaven Investments are created. The vast majority of the veterans of the liberation struggle are being used and played, vari #kuitiswa.

Despite being referred to as Operation Restore Legacy, the November 2017 coup had nothing to do with restoring the legacy of the revolution. The coup sought to replace civilian authority over the governance of Zimbabwe with military might. That military might which is now in control of the machinery of the state is working for the selfish benefit of a few individuals within the security establishment.

Zhuwao is currently living in exhile in an unknown location following the November 2017 coup.

More: Patrick Zhuwao Transformation Brief