Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Corrupt leaders are enemies of the people

Corrupt leaders are enemies of the people
Reason Wafawarova - Opinion
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:53:00 +0000

ON March 26 1983, Thomas Sankara spoke at a rally in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, then called Upper Volta and said these words, “The enemies of the people here inside the country are all those who have illicitly taken advantage of their social position and their place in the bureaucracy to enrich themselves.

By means of bribery, manoeuvres, and forged documents they have become shareholders in different companies........These are the enemies of the people. They must be exposed. They must be combated. We will combat them with you.”

It appears the protuberance of corruption in Zimbabwe has become too apparent that some of the rapacious human monsters pretending to be our political leaders are finally going to face the music for their ruinous plunder of the nation’s livelihood.

The Herald of January 22 reported that Ministers, legislators and other public officials were facing prosecution over corrupt conduct involving agricultural inputs intended to boost agriculture so that Zimbabwe can feed itself and also export food for the benefit of others in the region as well as earning itself foreign currency in the process.

The accused are part of the many rancid rascals that have chosen to prey on Zimbabwe’s suffering masses by way of abusing public office or whatever privilege they may be having over access to various resources.

When people stand up as happened when landless people rose to repossess the land that was stolen from their forefathers, imperialism trembles with fear but when the people’s project is eroded by the greed of the treacherous sojourners in the revolution then imperialism is rejuvenated and the future of the masses is threatened with ruin.

This is when those who disparage the people’s revolution feel vindicated. Indeed there are enemies of the people of Zimbabwe beyond our borders. These would be rendered absolutely useless if only they did not have a base among the unpatriotic people found at every level of our society – civilians, military men, the young, the old, the urbanites and the rural people.

Neo-colonialism and imperialism would be homeless among us if only some of our own did not harbour it deep down their insidious hearts. Imperialism has already launched a series of attacks on the homeland and these attacks have been launched from the base provided by Zimbabwe’s own stateless men and women – those with no shame in rejecting their homeland.

Zimbabwe has been taken through a full cycle of the nonviolent stage of imperialistic attacks where with the aid of the spiritless and stateless Zimbabweans, propaganda has resulted in radios, newspapers and televisions portraying Zimbabwe as all fire, blood and epidemics.

Now we have come to a stage where imperialism seeks to use the same spiritless and stateless children of Zimbabwe to help them launch the violent stage of imperialistic attacks. They are convinced from foreign capitals that Zimbabwe has been weakened enough by the nonviolent stage that it is now ripe for the picking.

At a time like that we see these supposed cadres of the revolution masquerading as Members of Parliament and as the nation’s political leadership when in fact they are the enemies of the people.

These are the people who have enriched themselves dishonestly through fraud and bribery, through the corruption of state officials, so they can divert state resources to the parallel market and profiteer a thousandfold.

The enemies of the people are the men and women in politics who travel through Zimbabwe’s countryside exclusively at election time. During these visits they endeavour to create the misimpression that only they can make Zimbabwe work. They are oblivious to the fact that Zimbabwe has thirteen million political beings that are not only capable of leading the country but also of shaping their own destiny.

Those politicians currently pretending that without their individual nodding to the formation of an inclusive government the country will not move on are of course delusional but most importantly, they are the enemies of the people and they must be exposed and combated.

The enemies of the people are those men and women who, under the cover of civic responsibility, spiritual guidance and tradition, they patronize our masses with deceit and a shallow gospel of human rights and limitless liberties.

These are the apostles anointed by imperialism to make sure that imperial domination is everywhere, making our young people think like it, submit to it, and go along with its manoeuvres by spreading its culture far and wide with the help of misinformation.

With all these odds against the country, and with imperialist sanctions biting to the marrow of the little bones of our toddlers, we still have the putrid and rogue political leaders and public officials who have no remorse in the blatant abuse of position, privilege and power to enrich their heartless selves.

Corruption comes with distinct but related problems. Morally it entrenches a ruinous culture and condemns entire generations to lives of laziness and dishonesty.

Economically corruption creates obscenely rich elites who are a bunch of crooks and evil minded rascals that prey on an ever-suffering nation.

Socially corruption creates a society of poverty, regression, exploitation and human suffering. It hampers all forms of development and it cripples social coherence.

This is why China is very right in executing corrupt public officials and this writer would be overjoyed if Zimbabwe did the same to those who carried out criminal acts of sabotaging agriculture through corrupt conduct aimed at making a quick profit at the expense of the masses of Zimbabwe.

Corruption as defined in the official laws of the country is very different from corruption as it affects the public. It is also very different from corruption as defined by public opinion.

Official laws offer a technical definition of corruption that is based on evidence, intention and motivation while prescribing penalties that only the most incompetent defence lawyers will fail to avoid.

This approach takes very little recognition of the fact that corruption adversely affects the public to the extent of destroying an entire social fabric and condemning generations to absolute poverty. When a whole country faces starvation just because its public officials deprived intended beneficiaries of farming inputs then the official legal definition of corruption must be shelved so that the rule of the victimized can take its course.

Corruption as defined by public opinion can entail that the people are the authorities and this is what is supposed to happen in any country that entertains any sense of democracy. This is when a newspaper story busting corrupt officials points towards jail, suicide or resignation, if not all three combined.

In a state where the people’s status as authorities has been thwarted corruption is defined by public opinion in a way that portrays the people as victims of the corrupt officials. This is when offenders get a pat on the wrist for murder or they just go scot free. This is when the policeman is bribed, the magistrate is bribed and the lawyers buy off judges.

Crippling accountability systems in a country is one sure way of destroying a nation beyond what the human mind can envisage.

The people must be the vigilantes guarding jealously on the service delivery systems of any country. They must not be reduced to victims of the corruption of their own public officials. That simply is unacceptable and cannot be explained away by any measure of mitigation.

It is incumbent upon Zimbabweans to choose how best to deal with the scourge of corruption. The enemy from abroad cannot be used reasonably as an excuse for failures that are a result of plain internal corruption. That kind of deceit is an insult to the masses of Zimbabwe and this is why those who have been found on the wrong side of the law must be tried, and if convicted, send away, if possible forever.

We cannot be a valiant nation only capable of putting up fierce fights with external enemies while we leave the enemies of the people among us enjoying a free reign.

Surely Zimbabwe did not come this far only for its revolution to be sold out and its people to be betrayed, not by a bunch of public officials whose appreciation of the liberation struggle is questionable.
This is a time for honest citizens to see justice and to have no fear. It is a time for those who have acquired their riches by illicit means to start trembling. It is a time for those who engaged in brazen exploitation of our masses to start running for cover and a time for that cover to be lifted mercilessly.

Who needs Ministers and Parliamentarians who still from the masses? Who needs military officials that rob civilians? Who needs councillors that abuse office to enrich themselves through illicit allocation of housing stands?

Who needs police officers that admire criminals and run after them pleading for crumbs? Who needs shop owners that exploit customers by overpricing and profiteering?

The police must be applauded for the latest crack on corruption, but more importantly these crimes must be dealt with expediently in the courts so that the public can once again assume their role as the authorities that monitor corruption.

This means public officials must realize that they owe their loyalty to the public and if they go against the public’s definition of corruption then they are committing suicide.

Corruption is not and cannot be a partisan issue. It is a national problem and the less politicking we have about it and the more combative against it we become the better for the country and for Zimbabwe’s public.

Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!

*Reason Wafawarova is a political writer and can be contacted on wafawarova@yahoo.co.uk or reason@rwafawarova.com or visit www.rwafawarova.com

Labels: CORRUPTION, LEADERSHIP

posted by MrK @ 8:15 AM