Source: Minerals looted, communities left in ruin -Newsday Zimbabwe
FINANCE, Economic Development and Investment Promotion deputy minister Kudakwashe David Mnangagwa could not have said it better: illicit financial flows rob Africa of an estimated US$88 billion every year — money that should be building schools, hospitals, infrastructure and jobs.
He is right. The real tragedy is that Zimbabwe is one of the worst culprits with the rot starting with the ruling party, Zanu PF, itself.
Zimbabwe is a country bursting with mineral wealth, yet its communities remain trapped in poverty and neglect.
Take Chiadzwa and Marange for instance.
After years of diamond mining, there is no evidence of prosperity for locals.
No new schools, no modern clinics, no improved livelihoods, no jobs.
Only hunger, unemployment, decay, dust, crumbling infrastructure and shattered expectations.
Penhalonga tells the same story — tunnels crisscrossing under people’s homes, turning the environment into a death trap.
Kwekwe is worse: the land has been hollowed out so badly that one day, the central business district will simply cave in
Boterekwa in Shurugwi is crying out for rescue; those once beautiful mountains have been excavated and what is left is a scarred landscape.
For decades, Zimbabwe’s minerals have been siphoned off through opaque deals, shell companies and politically- connected cartels.
Diamonds, gold, chrome all have enriched the elite and their foreign partners, leaving local communities in abject poverty, amid scarred land, dust-filled lungs, collapsing houses and poisoned rivers.
This is not an accident. It is deliberate.
This is the ugly truth: Zimbabwe’s mineral endowment has been captured by a system that benefits a few, not many.
The so-called investors leave behind nothing, except a trail of destruction.
Impassable roads, polluted rivers and decayed public services.
Farmers in Mazowe are selling their beasts for as little as US$100.
Reason: They fear to be left with nothing because their cattle are dying from cyanide-poisoned water.
There is nothing to show in that community for the so-called local mineral wealth.
So yes, illicit flows are a global problem.
But closer to home, broad daylight looting is the order of the day, sanctioned through opaque deals and protected by political muscle.
Mining rights go to cronies. Tenders are for the connected. “Investors” are chosen not to develop, but to partake in the gravy train.
The sovereignty that is supposedly eroded by tax havens is compromised by the way Zimbabwe’s natural wealth is managed — in secrecy, with no accountability or benefit to the people.
Zimbabwe does not need more glib speeches about lost billions.
It needs a government willing to put its people before the elite, willing to ensure that every ounce of mineral extracted translates to tangible development.
Zanu PF cannot lecture the world on illicit financial flows while presiding over one of the most corrupt, extractive systems on the continent if not the world over.
Its survival depends on looting and protecting the looters.
The billions lost could have transformed Zimbabwe’s economy, built industries and created opportunities for millions.
Instead, the money vanishes into offshore accounts, flashy convoys, election-campaigns and power retention.
If the status quo is maintained, communities will continue watching their wealth dissipating while schools crumble, hospitals run dry and futures collapse with the ground beneath them hollowed out by mines which did not benefit them a dime.
Until the system is dismantled, every speech is empty — and the looting will continue unabated.
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