Scandalous Corruption: It's Only In Zimbabwe Where $3 Billion Disappears And Nothing Happens

Some of the stories that come from Zimbabwe do read like a movie script. Except that this is real life, and real people are being affected. And yet, despite overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing with the country's finances from the politicians, impunity reigns supreme. 

Some few years back, Zimbabwe made headlines for $15 billion from the diamonds that went missing. The story raged on, till it fizzled out like a candle flame being blown out. High profile cases of grand corruption and misgovernance are regularly coming out from Zimbabwe. Yet, one thing is striking. Nothing happens. No convictions, no what. Just rhetoric. And more suffering. 

Recently, there were reports that $3 billion worth of Treasury Bills cannot be accounted for after it was allocated to the much-hyped Command Agriculture Scheme between December 2017 and 2018. 

The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement they know nothing about the funds being disbursed through the system as Command Agriculture is run by the Office of the President and Cabinet as a sub-ministry.

"Treasury released USD$3billion to the Ministry of Agric & Lands to finance Command Agric, but there is no supporting documents and parliament did not approve this payment," reported NewZimbabwe.com. 

How come that happens? Under whose watch does that happen? The truth of the matter is that Zimbabwe is a clear-cut case of obscene corruption in gigantic proportions. This case is just a reflection of the many corruption cases that do not see the light of day. 

The most familiar part about this is that after all the noise and anger, nothing happens. Zero arrests. Zero convictions. One would expect some sort of action to ensue. But not from the Mnangagwa-led government. 

The populace does not even dare question all these scandals. It's infuriating that citizens have to be subjected under such grossly unfair treatment and sheer cruelty. 

That money goes straight to the pockets of the politicians. And this is to serve their self-aggrandizement purposes, blind to the plight of the masses who are wallowing in a sea of abject poverty. 

Nothing changes in Zimbabwe. This story is just an encapsulation of the everyday life in Zimbabwe. Impunity in high profile corruption cases. Real life thuggery, but with the innocent lives of real people. And nothing happens to the culprits running down the economy to the ground. 

Header image credit - The Zimbabwe Mail