SPECIAL REPORT: THE ZIM MAFIA

Most of us here in Zimbabwe live in, or on the verge of, bitter poverty. We strive to exist on worthless wages, and the little we do earn we can't spend because there's nothing in the shops. Each day is a crisis. We struggle to survive - and some of us don't succeed.

But there are exceptions. There are those who don't struggle. There are still some Zimbabweans who glide over our potholes in Mercedes comfort, who live in elegant homes tended by armies of servants, who feed themselves from well-stocked freezers, and who comfort themselves in times of stress by reciting the numbers of their Swiss bank accounts.

They are the Zim Mafia. They are members of a special clique - all of them politicians and officials from our ruling Zanu-PF party - who take advantage of their positions of power to rake in millions of US dollars.

Follow the money in Zimbabwe, and you find the guilty men. I've spent the last three months following the money. Here is my far-from-comprehensive run-down on the graft, corruption, double-dealing and sheer theft that is the mark of our rulers...

The Sweet Smell of Success

Ever wondered why there's so little sugar in our shops when we still make so much? Step forward Vice President Joyce Mujuru (left) and Minister of Policy Implementation Webster Shamu. Under their guidance, Scania truck-loads of sugar daily leave the premises of Starafricacorporation en route for Malawi. Some 150,000 tons of sugar exit Zimbabwe that way every week, passing through the Nyamapanda border post with Mozambique, on their way to Malawi.

My source at the border told me: "Those trucks are untouchable. We know not to stop them." So the trucks roll out and the money rolls in. And it ends in the pockets - or the handbags - of Joyce and Webster. A sweet little scam, safely operated by the very people who are supposed to look after our interests. Thank you, Ministers both.

Where have all the flowers gone?

The answer to that question is, Malaysia, thanks to the good offices of our old friend, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono (right). Gideon doesn't like it to be known that he has a valuable farm in Mazowe, east of Harare, from where he quietly ships out flowers to Malaysia, earning an estimated US$3m a week - an incredible figure, but apparently accurate.

Of course, Gideon, as our top banker, is better known for his skill in money management, both on the official markets and the unofficial. He has been known to manipulate the bank rate to his own and other ministers’ advantage.

This week he issued three well-known foreign currency dealers with $Z20 trillion to buy foreign exchange on the black market, which will be used to purchase Nissan 4x4 vehicles for use by Zanu-PF, and only Zanu-PF, in the elections next year. Follow this trail, and it leads us to...

The man at the wheel

His name is Moses Chingwena, and he is the owner of a car dealership known as Croco Motors. Moses has close ties with Zanu-PF, and for some reason that won't escape any of us, he always wins the tenders to supply government vehicles. Moses is another with more than one string to his bow. His company is a major player in the illicit trade of Marange diamonds, currently being obtained from a mine seized illegally from African Consolidated Resources.

And before we move on from Moses we should mention his close associate Mirirai Chiremba, who makes up an unholy trio with Moses and Gideon Gono. Mirirai buys gold from illegal gold-panners, through a company called Carslone, formed by the RBZ for exactly that purpose. He also acts as a front for Gono's currency deals, and is the man who actually goes out onto the streets to distribute bags of cash to dealers.

Oranges and lemons

Last year our grandly named Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, Bright Matonga (left), did something he'd rather not distribute any information or publicity about. He invaded an orange farm in Chegutu, 100 kilometres from Harare, called Chigwell, and owned by a white farmer called Beatie. Today those oranges are regularly exported by Bright to Zambia, along with tons of fertiliser - and then both products are imported back into Zimbabwe by the government. Bright takes a slice of the action in both directions of course.

He is also in an unholy partnership with another expansively named minister, the Deputy Minister of Youth Development and Employment Creation, Savior Kasukuwere. Savior owns several fuel stations in the name of his company Comoil, and together he and Bright sell fuel on the black market. And by the way, Savior has a younger brother...

Brothers in arms

...and that brother is Stan Kasukuwere, a member of Mugabe's secret police, who must be a favourite of RBZ governor Gideon Gono - we keep coming back to Gideon - because Gideon has just given him the contract to distribute 3,000 tractors and 5,000 ox-drawn ploughs throughout the country. I say "given" but one suspects a certain amount of money changed hands along with the contract. Stan is also in the black market fuel business, and another of his little wheezes is to buy cars from Singapore, and supply them to top government men, somehow escaping payment of any duty.

Cementing a friendship

Cement is probably the world's most boring commodity, but in Zimbabwe it can be as good as gold, and twice as valuable. Step forward please, Vice President Joseph Msika and former Army top man and politburo member Vitalis Svinavashe (right). Cement is now only available here on the black market, but Joseph and Vitalis top up their incomes by selling it, together with milk, to Botswana and Zambia. As a result they've earned so much that they have bought several houses in the best of our suburbs, and now control a large part of the property business.

But cement pays best, and they are currently major suppliers of cement for Operation Garikai, which is the re-building of homes for those dispossessed in Mugabe's brutal slum clearance scheme known as Operation Murambatsvina. Also big in that particular business is our old friend Joyce Mujuru, with whom, you will remember, we began.

Diamonds are for ever

While I mentioned above that Moses Chingwena dabbles in diamonds, the real big names in this highly dodgy trade are two more Zanu-PF politicians, the Minister of Interactive Affairs, Chen Chimutengwende (left), and the MP Christopher Chigumba. This charming pair are believed to have robbed Zimbabwe of millions of US dollars by trading illicitly in the Marange diamonds in Manicaland, in the eastern part of Zimbabwe.

The gold rush

Political rivals they may be, but when it comes to the subject of gold, they are brothers in arms. I'm talking about retired General Solomon Mujuru, husband of Joyce, see above, and presidential hopeful and political strongman Emmerson Mnangagwa (right).

Emmerson is said to possess more gold than Gideon's Reserve Bank. He controls the gold-rich Kwekwe area, while he shares the spoils with Solomon in Kadoma and other gold producing areas. Solomon Mujuru, who leads the only opposition to Mugabe within Zanu-PF, is also big in diamonds. He is a shareholder in River Ranch Mine, a Beitbridge diamond mine which he took at gunpoint from the owners, Adele and Mike Farquhars. The Farquhars are fighting back legally, but not getting very far. And no wonder - the Attorney General, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, is a close relative of Mujuru.

And so it goes. What I've presented here is doubtless only a small part of the tangled web of corruption, chicanery and graft as practised by our leaders. I've probably only scratched the surface. If you can add to our knowledge of the Zim Mafia, we need to hear from you. One day, perhaps in the not-so-distant future, there will be a reckoning; a day when we confront Mugabe and his assorted crooks, and make them an offer they can't refuse.

Comments

[CLARENCE BUTLER]

Criminals???? would uou prefer WHITE CRIMINALS, WE BLACK PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SWINDLED BY WHITE CRIMINALS,since KEMET(EGYPT), and you see AUSTRAILIA, HOW HONEST and fair they are, and and how the black population have prospered, New Zealand,

I suppose you want so-called democracy, where Black Faced white puppets assist their European masters in the stealing of the Black Mans resources, and enrich Europe,and other white people.

In The U.S. WE CALL THE AUTHOR OF THIS PIECE A HOUSE NIGGER, SO ALL YOU PEOPLE SHOULD LIKE WHAT HE SAYS, HE IS SITTING BY THE DOOR WITH THE OTHER DOGS, WAITING FOR MASSA TO COME THRU DE DOR.

[CB]

OH VIC,
I HATE TO THROW ANOTHER EUROPEAN MYTH INTO THE DUST BIN, BUT NOBODY EVER,NO EVER WALKED THIS PLANET NAMED JESUS CHRIST, THAT IS ANOTHER EURO LIE.

AND IF YOU FOLLOWED THIS MYTH, YOU WOULD BE JEWS, BECAUSE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A JEW, HE WAS NOT A CHRISTIAN, ALSO THE LETTER "J", did not appear on this planet until the 15th century AD.

[Dave verster]

Zimbo's were warned by Ian Smith that Mugabe and cohorts were nothing other that Gangsters...Zimbabweans ,,yoyu deserve what you voted for..you ignorant......????

[tendai]

firstly this response goes to james who wrote on Wednesday, 19 December 2007 at 07:39
my brother being shona or ndebele is not sufficing causes for concern, the economic derail has been pointed out and all you can note is tribal grounds.let me cut it short grow up! when gukura hundi came you were not born and you cant be seen holding historical gradges

right facing the core of the issue "econonomic masarcer by wana be political machos of this world" may all these named species respect us and do the right thing for once we are tired

[Isaac]

MDC parliamentary caucus calls on the finance and budget committee to urgently convene a meeting and invite the governor to name these cash barons.

It is criminal that those who are in the employ of the state, charged with the duty to service the people, can be so cruel to inflict such intense suffering on the very people they were entrusted to service.

We specifically call upon the chairperson of the parliamentary finance and budget committee, Hon David Butau MP to immediately convene the committee and invite the governor.

Priscilla Misihairabwi-
Mushonga,
MDC Parliamentary
Spokesperson.

You see i quoted this from the edition on Dec 28 2007 Zw Independent, and now on the on the ground, the useful Zimbabwe Republic Police are in hot pursuit of the same above named Hon.David Butau MP, to 'question' him in connection with 'improper' dealings in cash. The Chief Spokes-person of the Police has even come out on the one and only state controlled television broadcaster to issue that warrant of arrest for the above MP. What a scheme! I'm sure until the coming elections or even after, the poor Hon. Butau may fail to convene any caucus of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, otherwise only God knows what could happen to the poor self-Saint Central Bank Governor Dr. Gideon Gono before he's granted the 'protection' to make his CONFESSION

Evil is Evil. Perpetrated by a white-man to a black-man or by a black-man to a 'HOUSE NIGGER',Shona to a Ndebele or however.
What a shame!

[Gordon]

For us in Zimbabwe, the suffering is now unbearable.We are now praying hard in this very big jail. God will one day receive our prayers.

[Steve]

It is disheartening to learn about such a level of betrayal from the very pple tht we entrust and look up to for guidance and leadership.If ths is true, i wont wish anyone any harm or hell but sobre thinking and wish they could simply be humble enough, honest and couragious to shun their ill dealings and get Zimbabwe back to where we want our great grand children to find it.Name calling is a waste of time and energy LET'S ALL HAVE ZIMBABWE AT HEART AND BE AS PATRIOTIC AS WE PREACH.
i love zim

[SICHELESILE]

To my Fellow Zims lam a ndebele person & will tell evryone this we are victims of political persecutions & abuse from the time of the whites to the present government we have been made to hate each other tribal for the benefit of those in power there is no reason why a shona person cant speak ndebele or v/verse we should be telling the world in Zim we hve such a number of ethnic dialects & be proud of them as andebele l shld tell the world we hve for example a shona dialect & strive to put it on top of the world map just as a shona person shld do with ndebele & not greet each other in the wrong dialect & the conversation ends before it begins Thats why the Zanu-pf cronies will rule forever & steal every last cent l propose we open a dialogue web site and vent our angers so we can understand each others rage whether misplased or true maybe that might unite us at the end then we can have a sense of direction as Zimbabweans and not sporadically attack each other undermining the important issues THERE IS NO ZIM TRIBE THATS MORE IMPORTANT THAT THE OTHER WE ARE EQUAL FROM THE MAJORITY TO THE MINORITY OR EVEN THE WHITE ZIMS THEREFORE WE SHOULD HAVE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN ZIM

[famous sound]

I appreciate your work journalist, well bob and his illegal government should just hang like sadam. wE REALLY NEED, to form new unions to educate our fellow Zimbabweans, about this rotten egg, ag... that instead of voting Zanu out we stand up and remove it by the barrel, these guys claim they conquered by the barrel hence they rule by the barrel, lets unite as Zimbabweans, and remove this shit. Zanu cronies are not patriotic at all, they are dirty, Bob and Gono, are whores for real, how can they fail to account for 65 trillion, and when it disappeared where they asleep? I have no faith in this government to hold even a 1% free and fair election, what more to manage an economy, lets chuck them out before they kill ag... sorry i mean murder, oh no exterminate all of us, i mean our children, mothers, wives, daughters, sons and hei vazukuru. Cheers.

[fargo]

GONO must go he is a let down to the nation go Gono go Gono

[kuda]

justice shall prevail. saddam went, mobuto, idi amin, hitler, soon it'll be mugabe. ndebele or shona lets be strong. this too shall pass.

[Shadow]

Only God can help now, i pray for the power to chenge this nation for we Zimbabweans have become docile, the ordinary people are dying of Aids , Hunger,Stress ,etc and only the Big cats get access to arvs,cash and good education for their kids, Lord Gracious Hear us.

[Peter Maputi]

It shall be well.

[ken]

May God intervene and take to hell those who have no respect for the welfare of others

[Rosm]

Thank you to SICHELESILE for finally giving us something to work towards, but my fear is that it is too much to ask. Look around the world. Sadly, Zimbabwe's suffering is less than a pin prick in the world's combined cultural history and it is all fuelled by racism. There is nothing more limiting than self-importance, narrow-mindedness or self-righteousness. I believe that education is the answer: the more you understand, the less you fear, and the less you hate. There is no quick fix. Don't look for short-term solutions. Promote education for ALL. Violence breeds violence; hate breeds hate; education and tloerance breed education and tolerance. Let us not prey for ourselves but for the future of the earth.

[huddy]

you can say what ever you want about all the others but please leave our governor alone. he is our only hope. LONG LIVE GONO

[Tanznania]

Bull#$! This is not what his Execllency had in mind people when he empowerd his race. Gono is not a visionary, he is not thinking about the future however he is Intelligent but myopic. Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe is working on higher things Not only is he considering social, politics, economics: culture makes up a language is his discourse to futher emancipate black people. Gono's class is richer than the country with all the povo on the outside while he misleads the people. U have witnessed the prostitutes he created in his policy for the country, Dorothy but how many are they now? Gono has iniquities to answer to. The farmers who benefited in the land policy are grateful they can make larger margins of profit through exports not building our own economy and feeding the people. The foreign benefits while the country is empty. Poverty and hunger. We can change the destiny of our country with what we have through collective reasioning and uniting as a Patriotic Front. Great Zimbabwe is our History The President reclaimed our symbolic bird from Germany: this action is to let us remember precolonial days and what monuments enshrined the economic state of that period. Its our legecy lets build pon it. Our foundation to build what will never fall.

[Ian Smith]

The british,with american help,and the communists who helped mugabe and hundreds of other stalinists finally got their wish in 1980. Now look at Zimbabwe,a giant Gulag filled with the dead and those about to die thanks to mugabe and all the blacks who empowered him to run his Empire of Terror. 20,000+ dead Ndebele cant be wrong along with many democratic Shona and the white farmers who just wanted to farm. Where are the white devils now that one needs them. The only solution is war! Death to mugabe and all his ilk!!!!!!!!

[NGNGEZWE MLALA]

Why a lot of Zimbabwe thieves are Shona? Is this tribe cased or what? or is a sickness in them?

[Harare Resident]

A famous man who who kept our economy the best in Africa despite a war once said: never in a thousand years will a black man "RUN THIS COUNTRY". So true are those words. As we have found out, if you have been is jail then it's quite easy to be head of state, but it's another story to have the brains to do the job properly Another zanu pf clown said "EVEN IF A BABOON RUNS FOR ELECTION AND HE IS zanu pf YOU MUST VOTE FOR HIM" well we did and look what happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!! May God strike these theives down before we all die by their greed.

[frank]

ka1

[jason pawuma]

Regrettably, some so-called Ndebele- affiliated have this idea that the Shona are corrupt or that they constitute a cohesive "tribal" group or category. No such category exists- in fact, it's in the tribalist's imagination that Shona people exist. If anything, Shona is a Bantu dialect, just as Ndebele/Zulu, etc. That should tell us something. Unless we grow up and relinguish the nonsense that is tribalism, there is no hope for us. Even more tragic, are threats towards the elimination of groups suspected as Shona. Such a move would be folly of the highest order, to say the least!

[Gilo]

Zimbabwe will become a Kenya soon after elections. The good of it is that not the Shona and the Ndebele will fight each other. All people will stand to fight Mugabe and his cronies.

[PROPHET G]

Anger and insults are not the answers.All the political leadership will never succeed without God's approval as is said in the book of Romans.Real prayers are now needed not only prayers.But only righteous people,it wont make any impact if politicians and sinners claim to have their prayers being answered by God.Isaiah 1vs 16.God asks for people to wash their blood hands first before they seek him.

above all we as blacks have been given the chance to own all the wealth,but it is up to the same people to acknowledge that God gave the Hebrews their land but most refused the offer and died along the because they kept on regretting why they were saved from Pharaoh's cruelty.It will come to pass.True Christians can stand up and challenge God.Remember Jacob fought the Angel.Lets all have the faith and the rightful mind to approach our county's challenges

[Jay]

To all that have commented. Whilst there are a lot of accusations towards race and colour, that is not what needs to be concerned about. Yes it is a problem, and yes it needs to be eradicated, however, I am young, I was born after independence, I know of a world in Zim at one stage where all people no matter what origin shared class space, break meals etc. We are going back to the racial hatred that was fought over. Can we not move on from there? What was done in the past is history.

As for Rich and corrupt people, Europeans and whites are also in the mix and should not be spared from the wrath of the law. However the people we look at and up to to run the country and help us poor people on the ground should be more responsible. You have made your millions, you can survive comfortably off that. Why not let the bulk of Zimbabweans now have a life!!!