By Margret Tashayawedu|

1.Agriculture

This is Zanu’s standard cash cow for stealing money. They big famers (who also happen to be Zanu officials) loans which they don’t pay back.

2.Mining

Mining has become the chief money making scam used by Zanu and the military. They mine above the law, and everything they make from mining they pocket without paying taxes. The IMF fund could be used to buy machinery at inflated prices from other Zanu or cartel connections. At the end of it all, the money from the IMF will eventually be pocketed by Zanu officials who are into mining as well as the infamous cartels who surround the regime like flies to excrement.

3.Government tenders

Tenders are one of the common way money is stolen. Contracts are dished out to companies belonging to Zanu officials and those grubby cartels whereby one of these groups are given a contact at an inflated price to deliver a public service for example, but then the public service is not delivered and if it is delivered it will be dysfunctional. For example, a company (owned by Zanu officials or a cartel) can be given a tender to fix let’s say 5000 potholes in Harare l for USD5m when the actual cost is probably around USD. The company takes the money and fixes about 1000 potholes which are often located on roads used by Zanu officials. At the end of it all, millions would have been pocketed and the service paid for would be poor – there will still be potholes in Harare especially in areas where the poor live. Just as it was with the Drax scandal, Covid will continue to be an opportunity for Zanu chefs to get government contracts where they pocket most of the money at the expense of public service.

4.Bonuses, allowances and perks

Bonuses and allowances are a form of theft that many people ignore because no one really knows what these old men and women are getting from the system. Based on the way Zanu treat the country like it’s their tuckshop, a reliable assumptions is one that assumes that Zanu chefs don’t pay for anything using their money. So things like cars, fuel, clothes, medical treatment, school and university fees for their children, electricity and water bills, are all paid for by the government as part of their perks. On top of that, they will give themselves bonuses and new second hand cars from Asia.

5.Forex exchange

This scam lacks sophistication but it shows the rottenness of the system. The scam involves a Zanu chef applying for US dollars and then buying them at a very low rate from Reserve Bank using millions of bond notes piles and piles of which Zanu chefs are known to store in their homes.