Maridadi blames Mugabe squarely for the rot in the country

HON. MARIDADI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I think I must conclude my debate. I want to say we are getting into Christmas and we are getting into 2017. It is my sincere hope that getting into 2017, this Government gets serious dealing with issues of corruption and that when they deal with corruption, what we have been taught as Zimbabweans and the world over is that when a fish is rotting, it starts from the head. When you are dealing with corruption in Ministries, you deal with the Minister. When a Minister is stealing and is not arrested, I do not see why a Permanent Secretary should not steal because they know they will not be arrested. I also do not see how junior officers would also not steal.

What I can tell you Mr. Speaker is that if we arrest four or five Ministers, the problem of corruption in Zimbabwe will be over. We only need to arrest four or five Ministers and fortunately, Hon. Chinamasa is not one of them, but he knows his colleagues who are corrupt. We arrest four or five Ministers and the problem of corruption in Zimbabwe is over and Hon. Chinamasa’s job will be easier. Of all the people in this Government, he is the most sincere, honest and hence the poorest. There are people in this Government who were drivers in 1998. Their only qualification on their CV was that I am 19 years old and I have a Class 4 Driver’s licence. Simply driving vehicles, but today, we see them building the most expensive houses – where did they get the money from?

I am not referring to anyone by name. There are people that were high school teachers in 2002. Today they are Ministers and they have the most expensive houses in Zimbabwe – where did they get those houses? Mr. Speaker, Government Ministers earn less than $4 000.00 a month. Where do they get that money to build all those houses? We must get serious when dealing with corruption. Getting into 2017, we must arrest a few people and let us allow the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to function. I thank you.

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