Zimbabwe Asset Management Company- a mixed tale of salvation and greed

Listening to the debate on ZAMCO, at least one MP in the Public Accounts Committee would have been shuffling uneasily in his seat.

One of the contentious ZAMCO transactions involves its takeover of $15 million owed by Zimbabwe’s cricket board to four banks. One of the banks, Metbank, is connected to Ozias Bvute, who is the former Zimbabwe Cricket CEO.

Bvute, ZANU-PF MP for Goromonzi North, sits on the same Public Accounts Committee that is now demanding full disclosure of ZAMCO debts.

By wading into the cricket debt crisis, ZAMCO has drawn criticism that it was batting for officials who had allegedly mismanaged Zimbabwe Cricket’s funds.

In terms of a debt relief deal worked out with the International Cricket Council (ICC) last June, ZAMCO took over Zimbabwe Cricket’s $15 million debt, clearing the way for the injection of fresh funds into the local game by the ICC. The ICC is understood to have undertaken to pay up Zimbabwe Cricket’s ZAMCO debt by 2023.

There is no telling who else would be bowled over by full disclosure.

The big story remains: who else, apart from these large companies and prominent figures, has had their bank loans taken over by ZAMCO?

At Parliament on Monday, Public Accounts Committee member, MP Bramwell Bushu (ZANU-PF, Shamva South), moved that MPs be given the list of all borrowers whose loans had been taken over by ZAMCO.

“Given the answers given earlier, is it possible to get a list of the beneficiaries of ZAMCO?” Bushu queried.

ZAMCO chief executive Cosmas Kanhai resisted, saying ZAMCO, like banks, is protected by bank-client privilege. This was rejected by Tendai Biti, committee chair, who said: “ZAMCO is not a bank, it’s a private company owned by the central bank. Customer privilege can’t apply here. You’re not protected by banker-customer privilege.”

The history of creditors getting away with billions by having the taxpayer pick up the bill cannot continue. The RBZ Debt Assumption Act, passed in 2015, placed $1.4 billion on the shoulders of taxpayers. The bill was a result of quasi-fiscal activities under Gideon Gono; these programmes stretched from supplying cheap groceries, to bank bailouts and to spending on farm equipment.

Last year, Government rammed through Parliament the Ziscosteel Debt Assumption Act, which again placed $500 million on the taxpayer’s account.

In both the RBZ and Zisco cases, there was no transparency on who benefited from the debts.

ZAMCO has indeed successfully given companies and banks a clean slate. What is needed, equally, is a clean slate on disclosure and accountability. It must start now, with full publishing of a list of defaulters. Taxpayers have paid bills for companies and the greedy elite for too long. They deserve to know whose bills they have been paying for.- NewZwire

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