REVELATIONS that US$4.5 million in donations by international aid agencies and well-wishers meant for Cyclone Idai victims were misappropriated are not only scandalous but prove that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s fight on corruption rings hollow.
NYASHA CHINGONO
Mnangagwa, who has postured as a sworn enemy of graft since being propelled to power by a military coup in 2017, has failed to walk the talk in dealing with corrupt officials.
It is embarrassing that some malcontents in the government pounced on aid meant for Cyclone Idai victims, most of whom are still living in tents, two years after Zimbabwe’s most devastating natural disaster struck, leaving them homeless and mourning their dearly departed.
Instead of commiserating with the victims whose lives took a nasty turn because of the disaster, the government used less than 1% of funds to assist victims, as revealed in a special audit report by Auditor-General Mildred Chiri.
Tonnes of foodstuffs needed by desparate villagers were allowed to expire, yet the victims were going hungry.
In the wake of the cyclone donation scandal, citizens are asking: whose interests does the government serve?
Chiri’s report vindicates critics who have repeatedly questioned why Idai victims were still living in tents and begging for their next meal, yet millions of dollars were donated.
Last week, The NewsHawks published an exclusive story on the looting that happened after disaster struck in March 2019.
“The objective for which the funds were donated may not be achieved,” Chiri says in the report.
Even though Zimbabwe received a lot of aid, which included foodstuffs, medicines, temporary shelter, building materials and money, Chiri noted that there are no proper records of the aid.
The Auditor-General observed that “no proper records for relief items received and disbursed were maintained” from the time they left Manyame Air Force base to the affected provinces, raising the risk that donations “may be misappropriated”.
“There was no uniformity in accounting for donations from Manyame air base to Manicaland and Masvingo provinces as there were no detailed dispatch documents and receiving registers for audit trail. Only a list of donated items was submitted for audit,” Chiri says.
“Furthermore, there were no full descriptions of items such as the quantities or units received to determine the total quantities/volumes. I was therefore not able to match the items received and dispatched to the districts and from the districts to the distribution centres and beneficiaries.”
As a result, Chiri observes “accountability and transparency was compromised”. This means she was unable to trace the donations. In other words, the government was unable to account for the aid.
The government’s horrific accountability and transparency failures – which reflect deep-seated and underlying structural governance problems – point to gross incompetence, abuse or looting of donations at a time people were dying from the devastating weather impact.
A political analyst at the University of London, Stephen Chan, said the Zimbabwean government’s lack of accountability is likely to spook donors and deprive the country of future aid in critical times.
“The revelation that only 1% of donations reached the cyclone victims will alarm foreign donors who have battled their own governments to maintain humanitarian aid even while developmental aid programmes are being slashed,” Chan said.
“It will have a knock-on effect on the ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra — for, if even funds to help those in distress are stolen, investors will divert their funds away from Zimbabwe. In so far as some of the funds were swallowed up by bureaucratic procedures, this will also discourage investors who will ask questions to do not only with honesty but efficiency.”
Chan added: “In the next humanitarian emergency, many donors from the international community — governmental and NGO — will hesitate to give to Zimbabwe.”
Cyclone Idai struck Zimbabwe in March 2019, leaving in its wake a trail of devastation, death, and mayhem in the Eastern Highlands, particularly in Chimanimani and Chipinge.
At least 347 people were killed, while 344 others went missing. More than 50 000 were left homeless.
The cyclone ravaged through southern Africa, killing over 1 000 people in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. Hundreds of thousands were displaced.
As a result, Mnangagwa declared the cyclone a national disaster on 15 March 2019. The government and donors immediately swung into action with various rescue missions to mitigate the disruption of lives and suffering.
There were subsequent stories and concerns that the aid was being politicised, diverted and looted by corrupt ruling Zanu PF and government officials always hunting to make political capital even on dead bodies.
South Africa, one of the country’s major donors during the disaster, also expressed concern over the possibility that donations were looted.
This could also explain why Zimbabwe is not trusted with direct lines of credit by the international community, with foreign partners choosing to work with non-governmental organisations instead.
Political analyst Ibbo Mandaza said the government should appoint an independent commission of inquiry to investigate all forms of graft, bleeding the country US$1 billion annually.
“Nothing unusual, another scandal. We expected that to happen. It is a pity that Chiri reveals corruption, but nothing happens,” Mandaza said.
“We have always called for an independent commission of inquiry. We are losing a lot of gold and other minerals to smuggling annually and it keeps going on. Zimbabweans on the other hand are not making enough noise, the opposition also — it’s pathetic.”
Looting has deprived the country of investment opportunities as foreign businesses remain on the fence or use proxies to engage in business with Zimbabwe.
It is also sad that the nation could fail to attract aid in future when similar disasters happen.
Chiri’s report also proves lack of seriousness in changing the plight of the suffering who now survive on the benevolence of foreign donors. Lack of transparency in governance could mean that nefarious activities in the government are going unnoticed.
