What is behind Lumumba’s sudden turn on the cartel

ZwNews Chief Correspondent

‘Former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was more power hungry, than he was corrupt. His successor Emmerson Mnangagwa is both,’- analysts would say.

He being so, Mnangagwa tries to pluck the ill from others, from those bend on sabotaging the nation and its peaceful citizens.

He fumes!

President Mnangagwa is in no nonsense mood, ‘I am going to root out corruption in the bud,’ even critics among the hundreds of those who attended the recent public sector audit conference left the meeting feeling upbeat.

But will he summon the political will needed to ruthlessly deal with this socio-economic ill, that would see his envisaged 2030 into fruition?

Mnangagwa said it is disheartening that the country is losing millions to fraud, money laundering, procurement, and tender processes manipulation, etc. Added that it won’t be allowed to continue under his watch anymore.

While for some it might seem as if it is early days, but judging from the goings on, the actions prove otherwise.

For others, there is nothing new in all this drama. Most of what he said had already been said before, and none of the threats may happen.

According to critics, the drama boils down to the recent close shave, in which culprits slipped through Mnangagwa’s own fingers, as if it were water through a fishing net, the Reserve Bank (RBZ) officials debacle.

This came after Ace Lumumba exposed the rot at the top bank.

The matter took a twist when RBZ governor John Mangudya defended the very people he had suspended over the issue. Mangudya said his officials have never been involved in dirty foreign currency deals.

For many this still came as a surprise, as over the years stacks of new bank notes, especially of the local currency have been found in the streets.

No one bothered to ask how new bank notes find their way onto the streets. During the previous dispensation former RBZ governor Gideon Gono used to play games with Zimbabweans claiming intercepting cash barons, and again no one took him to task over how new notes from the bank he led find way onto the streets.

Lumumba later made an about turn, claiming to have had been given $40 000 to tarnish the names of those he implicated.

However, the surprise U-turn could have been caused by the cartel itself, using its links to remind Mnangagwa that he can’t expose them only now.

Political analyst Elder Mabhunu says ED is at the helm on a borrowed ticket, and that weakens any of his move to deal with corruption.

He says when Lumumba made the claims about graft at the Apex bank, he could have been telling the truth, but later forced to lie that it was not so.

“Lumumba told the truth at first, but later forced to lie, it has become open secret that  someone was leaking bank notes onto the streets.

“That is a fact, we have seen it, the so-called cash barons is not a new for Zimbabweans,” he said.

He added that the problem is that ED’s hands are tied up, he cannot make decisions, without consulting the cartel, a machine that is as corrupt as he is.