In order to understand the meaning and impact of Blessed Geza’s revelations, I recalled a workshop at which I sat at the feet of the renowned ethnologist, Sister Yvonne Vera during the International Book Fair in 1994.
Sister Yvonne described a system among the Shona where an aggrieved woman, stands in the village square, makes loud complaints against her husband and curses out the elders for their refusal to address her issues.
Here is the crux. She threatens to take off her clothes (kufukura marokwe) and disgrace herself and the community.
The effects of such an action, whether carried to its ultimate conclusion or not is profound. It leaves an indelible mark on the community.
Zanu PF finds itself in such a situation. I remember a similar situation where vice -president Sister Joice Mujuru was wrongfully put through a ringer, (the so-called Runaida affair).
Enter Brother Blessed Geza
Geza is either a hero or a scoundrel depending on whose side one is. An unavoidable conclusion is the fact that Geza has taken Zanu PF to the cleaners and like the women in Yvonne’s story, by washing dirty linen in public, disgraced himself and the heroic party.
Two examples will suffice. At a time when unemployment is estimated at 80 percent of those who want formal employment, unbelievably huge sums of monies are spent on frivolous pursuits.
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Brother Sir Wicknell Chivayo was awarded a contract to provide 2023 election materials. Wicknell, who relishes a title not found in the Queen’s Register of the Knights of St. George and St. Michael, does not possess a manufacturing company-nor does he have architectural and technical skills that we can recognise.
It stands to reason that his contract with government and with Ren-Form Limited in South Africa is based on his connections with powerful people.
The details of the transactions as exposed by Geza and social media are more than shameful. The Zimbabwe treasury was in on the deal, writing a check of R1.1 billion to Ren-Form. Of this money, only R300 million remained at Ren-Form while the rest R800 million went into the brother’s pockets.
He is accused of looting through brazen inflation of prices, where an Internet server cost R90 000 was booked for R23 million and non-flush toilets which cost Rand 10 000 on the market were booked at R29 000 each.
The Zimbabwe treasury was involved in these shady deals. One payment was made to Eben-Freeze (R62.5 million) for “architectural and technical support.” The company exists only on paper.
This exposure of what would have gone unnoticed in the past as business between the Zimbabwe government and a foreign agent should be credited to new thinking in the US treasury.
When Janet Yellen was at the US treasury, she figured out that money laundering was probably more prevalently practiced through small transactions below US$10 000. By simply asking a question, a defensive transmitter of money gives himself away.
Thus, by publishing the information, the Zimbabwe government looks very foolish.
That is the Yvonne Vera effect. The ruling party has been undressed.
There are other revelations which reveal the presence of unserious minds in government. Geza alleges that US$60 million was allocated to Dr. Amai for social events surrounding the native custom of dried vegetables (Mufushwa).
The revelations by Geza go on ad infinitum, day by day, hour by hour and government has no ability to adequately address then issues.
While I have nothing but warm feelings for USAid, President Donald Trump’s inquiries have discovered that it was sometimes used to propagate progressive social policies while at the same time paying media houses to write bad words about him.
The withdrawal of USAid leaves a void in Zimbabwe which will affect millions.
The HIV-Aids is only one such programme. At its peak, it affected more than four million Zimbabweans.
This comes at a time when the US is being joined by the European Union in an attempt to reverse the African Diaspora.
The US may expel as many as 1.3 million people this year alone.
As we speak, Great Britain has published new guidelines aimed at removing the permanent status (called right to remain) of migrant workers and replacing it with an annual permit.
Family members, wives and children are no longer allowed as of right.
Immigration experts say this is causing “familial emotional stress” as security once provided by right to remain has been removed.
This hostility towards African migrants affects South Africa, which may soon expel Zimbabweans.
Only Ghana is making provisions for the returnados.
Surprisingly, Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) the very organizations the government is persecuting have been at the forefront of building, funding, and mitigating such humanitarian disasters.
The secret lies in the fact that US pharmaceutical companies love the public relations benefit of doing good works abroad by donating their surplus (sometimes dated products) to PVO’s while allowing for tax deductions at home as well.
A persecutory approach, when government itself cannot fill the void created by the departure of USAid is the wrong approach.
I return now to the Geza effect.
I was shocked to hear how overwhelming corruption has become. Word in the street is that the new police bosses require each traffic police to “deliver US$300 per day” from motorists.
I will leave you with this thought for laughter. Brother Gilbert Nyambabvu says that taking advantage of the general corrupt atmosphere in the country, some brothers (and some sisters) are attaching the initials “Dr.” to their names without ever having sat in a seminar.
With dry humour, Gilbert noticed that they miss the fact that a “doctoral mind is never the subject of public incredulity and wonder…the intellectual rigor is natural, the cognitive depth effortless and self-evident.”
Geza’s revelations give us an opportunity to self-examine.
- Ken Mufuka is a Zimbabwean patriot. He writes from the US.
