Zimbabwe has lost more than $60 billion through corruption- MP says

In addition, Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to point out that if we, as Members of Parliament, completed the asset disclosure forms which should be made available to each Member of Parliament…

HON. D. SIBANDA:  On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir.  We want the Hon. Member to be heard in silence.  There is a lot of noise coming from the right side of the House – [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible interjections.] – Mr. Speaker, we are here to represent people and to hear whatever is being said in this House.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Order, I am surprised she is the Chief Whip of the Opposition, but she was making noise over there.  So, please desist from that – [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible interjections.] – Order, order please!  I mean everybody.  Let us hear the debate in silence.  I am not going to repeat that.  If I get anyone, do not blame me, I will send you out.

HON. CROSS:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, I just want to point out that if we as Members of this House were to honestly disclose our assets and if ZIMRA conducted lifestyle audits on us, we would in fact discover many Members of this House who possess assets vastly in excess of what they are capable of financing from their own resources.

It is my view that the time is long gone when we should be declaring our assets in this House on a transparent basis. I would appeal to you as Speaker of the House of Assembly to insist in coming weeks that this exercise be undertaken as soon as possible. I think members who are living beyond their means must explain where the new wealth is coming from. They must be able to satisfactorily explain to the House that they have paid their taxes on that wealth. Otherwise, they must be condemned as being guilty of corruption along with all the others.

In addition to this issue on the question of corruption in Zimbabwe, I want to point out to the House that for some years, we have observed that the total customs duties and Taxes collected at our border posts on US$6bn worth of foreign trade amounts to a paltry US$384m, which is 5% of the trade. More than US$1.5bn worth of motor cars are imported annually. The import duty on those motor cars ranges from 60 – 100%. On motor cars alone the duty should be more than double the total amount collected at our border posts.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order! Hon. Member next to Hon Guzah, please leave the House.

HON. CROSS: We have the spectre of the Commissioner of Taxes being found to possess a luxury motor vehicle worth more than US$170 000 which was declared at the border as a second hand Toyota car worth US$5000. Really, when are we going to get to grips with this situation? This is massive corruption on a large scale and the fact that we cannot finance our Government and this House properly is due to the fact that we are not taking action on these issues.

Continued next page

(298 VIEWS)