ZANU PF politburo member Obert Mpofu’s proposal that civil servants bosses should report to the party’s co-ordinating committees in their respective provinces cannot go unchallenged.
Obert Mpofu told a Zanu PF meeting in Lupane, Matabeleland North, on Saturday that this would ensure that the party was kept abreast of what is happening within government departments.
He went on to say civil servants chiefs owed their positions to Zanu PF’s benevolence and there was nothing amiss with them presenting progress reports before the party.
Mpofu, the Transport and Infrastructural Development minister, quite importantly revealed that this would not be something new as it used to happen before the formation of the inclusive government.
He said when he was Matabeleland North governor and Speaker of Parliament and Jacob Mudenda was still provincial party chairman, he (Mpofu) would bring heads of departments to give updates on their work.
It goes without saying that the minister was admitting to willfully violating the law. Legally, civil servants must be apolitical.
However, it is an open secret that Zanu PF does not respect such clearly defined lines of reporting for heads of government departments and even parastatals.
This has created a culture of patronage, corruption and nepotism. In most cases, heads of parastatals are appointed on party allegiance rather than merit.
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As a result, these Zanu PF appointees end up feeling that they have an obligation to serve the party not taxpayers. Some see the Zanu PF card as a licence to steal and engage in corruption.
This is precisely why some parastatals such as the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Air Zimbabwe have been looted and left on their knees.
The culprits who are being exposed by the media today are known to have had Zanu PF links and protection.
It is shocking that instead of calling for good corporate governance, Mpofu is pushing for a system that has proven defective and a big strain to the fiscus. Those proposals should be rejected with the contempt they deserve.
