VICTORIA FALLS – Vice President Constantino Chiwenga on Thursday continued his crusade against cartels using political connections to win massive government contracts, warning that “the day of reckoning is coming.”
Chiwenga told a congress of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce in Victoria Falls that the country was witnessing a growing culture of so-called businessmen flaunting wealth with no known enterprises, an apparent jibe at tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo.
The government recently awarded a $437 million tender to supply cancer equipment to Chivayo’s six-month-old company, TTM Global Medical Exports. The company’s registered address is a hotel room in Johannesburg.
“We must shun unscrupulous, so-called business people operating from briefcases with no traceable capital or legitimate enterprise. This culture of phantom entrepreneurship, where money appears without any known source, is not only economically corrosive, but ethically bankrupt,” Chiwenga said to applause from delegates.
He added: “We all know that money does not fall from the heavens like manna, the time of Moses is no longer here. Real businesses are built through hard work, discipline, sacrifice and value creation.
“The day of reckoning is inevitable for those who undermine our economic integrity by engaging in shadowy dealings. It’s coming.
“Let us not mortgage our nation’s future for fleeting gain. Equally imperative to this shared national and developmental vision is our corrective stance on integrity and accountability.
“As we deepen public-private partnerships and catalyse economic growth, we must decisively shun corruption in all its ugly forms. There can be no room for rent seeking behaviour and muddy practices in a modern competitive economy.”
Chiwenga previously hit out at what he called “zvigananda” – a Shona word for a tick engorged with blood.
He said these zviganandas were sucking the nation dry through illicit practices – mainly the corruption of the state procurement system to enrich themselves and their associates.
The corruption scourge is a central issue in Zanu PF’s succession wars as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s second and final term runs down.
Chiwenga, the frontrunner to succeed Mnangagwa, is seen as tough on corruption. Rivals are allegedly seeking to promote sanctioned and corruption-accused businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei to battle Chiwenga.
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