Let me talk about intellectual property rights, which are critical in investment. The Government has gone on to take diamond mines belonging to people that they entered into a partnership with, including the Chinese, who are your all weather friends. Anjin, you went and took. In taking those diamond mines – even Mhlanga, who was a war veteran, came up with a good idea, went into diamond mining, did as much as he could and the next thing, he does not have a diamond mine, but he is one of our own.
It goes back to the point of, if you look at it, how many people have we empowered as Zimbabwean – when we still go and grab what we have given them because of self interest. Someone wants to be corrupt, someone wants to eat. Executives in these companies have been torn apart because the Minister coming in wants to eat, but he cannot eat if he does not control the people that he has put in there.
I go to the aspect of corporate governance. It is non-existent in terms of us performing. Corporate governance also has to do with the Government Ministries. The Auditor General’s Report, which is critical and I want to applaud the Auditor General of this country who has done a remarkable job. We are very quiet about it, we do not say much about it, but I want to kuvapasando dzavo like the saying goes – Auditor General vedu venyika. She is doing her job. She exposes Government. She exposes Government where even the money is given to the Ministries, they cannot even account.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, itself, cannot account for the US$500 million of 2016. We have the Minister of Finance and Economic Development telling us, yet his own Ministry cannot account for US$500 million. This is serious. We cannot be treated like children. What has happened to the money from the fiscas which is going to every Ministry? There is no response. So, the recommendation from the Public Accounts Committee chaired by Hon. Mpariwa, which has done an amazing job, exposes all that. It recommends all that. So, before we even think of doing anything, while Parliament is doing its job in exposing all these things, the Executive must be able to support what Parliament is doing, but they do not do that.
You have got Air Zimbabwe today. I do not care who the CEO of Air Zimbabwe is, but what we want is performance at the end of the day. Whether it is my brother, that is not the issue – are they able to perform. But you have an institution which the Auditor General has said cannot be run. It has failed. The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development clearly tells us in the report from the Parliamentary Committee chaired by Hon. Nduna that certainly, they agreed to that.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Development equally in his parastatal’s report, which he does a good job, exposes and clearly says that parastatals are not performing, but you are putting US$220 million into parastatals which you yourself say are not performing. When have parastatals ever made money? Can he tell us how much money parastatals are expected to make from the US$220 million that is being given to them? There is no way we should allow such as situation where money is put in and you do not tell us what comes out. It has never worked like that. This is the money that is then stolen; there is corruption and so forth, because it is not being accounted for.
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