Mliswa says Mnangagwa should arrest corrupt ministers while they are still in office

The aspect of corruption remains an issue.  I look forward to the day the President will arrest Ministers while they are in office.  Arresting Ministers out of office does not mean anything.  We want Ministers while they are in office, when they are corrupt to be investigated and be suspended.  Corruption can no longer be a situation where we talk about it and we do nothing about it.  We have commission of enquiries put up and the mere fact that the President has got the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Committee (ZACC) and then appoints his own committee to investigate corruption only shows that ZACC is corrupt and is not fit to investigate.  Otherwise why would he then have another parallel investigating arm when ZACC is there?  The likes of Goodson Nguni are not credible to be able to be running such institutions.  We have people like former Attorney General Gula Ndebele, Justice Chinhengo who we just had who are able to understand the law, look at the case and be able to do that.  The credibility of the Anti-Corruption Commission is the one that will talk to people whether the President is serious about corruption or not.

Also, there are other Ministers who came back into power yet there are institutions like NSSA – Hon. Mupfumira having allegations on corruption.  To me, we need to be very clear. If the board chairperson of an institution which a Minister appoints is corrupt and the Minister does not report that they are corrupt, the Minister cannot be exonerated but must also be arrested because he/she appointed the board.  We cannot separate the board and the Minister.  So we are basically playing games.  Any Minister who is sleeping on duty and appoints a board which is implicit and does not do its job, the Minister is responsible for appointing the board and as such, is the first to be accused and the board becomes the second accused.  This is what we want to see.  We cannot be playing games and having to protect people because of who they are.  When you look at NSSA, the pensioners have suffered immensely in this country yet there are so many deals which are happening with NSSA.

There is also the issue of the land barons, some of whom are in this House.  In Norton, we have Hon. Cuthbert Mupame who is implicated in the Kingsdale issue.  We have Hon. Cde. Killer Zivhu, who is implicated in the Galloway issue.  I speak about this with a heavy heart because these people have made people of Norton suffer.  The cholera that we talk about today is a result of land barons who have gone and built more stands without complying with the master plan.  Every town has got a master plan and if you look at it you give people land who are the land barons to build but they do not build any infrastructure to augment the new houses which are being built.  That cholera which is there is a result of the land barons who have been given land and not only that, but they are the same land barons who were sponsoring the G40, but I see them in this House again.

At times I wonder what really happened to the party.  Where are the eyes of the party?  They created so much division in the country.  They were the ones supporting the former first lady but today I see them here.  I wonder – where was the ZANU-PF vetting system in terms of elections to stop these criminals from coming here?  When another faction comes, you know where it is coming from.  You failed to stop them at the end of the day.  The reason why I talk about the factions is because they have played a part in this economy not taking off.  The only thing that the ruling party did in the Eighth Session was to just fight and fight.  There was no progress at the end of the day.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Member, can you be reminded that you need to wind up your debate.

HON. MLISWA:  Mr. Speaker Sir, I talk about the aspect of corruption because it is an issue and it is quite sad that some of the issues to do with the Land Commission was set up by the President to look into the land barons.  But, I then asked myself – how will the Land Commission be able to investigate other Members of Parliament when they are also part of that investigation?  It says a lot about what we need to do.  I also talk…

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