Source: ZBC

ZANU PF has sensationally claimed that targeted sanctions on some of its leaders and institutions is the reason why they are involved in mass corruption activities.

Addressing a Press conference at the ruling party’s headquarters in Harare yesterday, the ZANU PF spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa said the sanctions imposed on them are fuelling corruption as they have somehow incapacitated both Government and the private sector from providing competitive salaries, leaving workers susceptible to the pervasive vice.

He added that there is a clear link between corruption and the illegal sanctions imposed by some Western nations as punishment for embarking on the land reform programme.

“There is a relationship between sanctions and corruption, whereupon due to incapacitation of Government or the private sector to provide competitive salaries in the region, workers end up engaging in acts of corruption to supplement what they get which is, however, unfortunate.

“The illegal sanctions have affected our economy and continuously affect the value of our currency and consequently our returns. Again, due to sanctions our institutions mandated to fight corruption have been incapacitated to investigate swiftly both local and external cases,” said Chinamasa.

However, the United States, which still maintains the illegal sanctions has repeatedly said that the sanctions do not hurt ordinary Zimbabweans.

“It is for this reason that we implore and remind comrades in the media of their patriotic duty to report on corruption and call upon the removal of sanctions, the twin evils that are haunting our society. Daily we hear comrades in the media echoing the US Ambassador’s fake news narrative that Zimbabwean problems are a result of corruption and not sanctions.

“If sanctions were not meant to and are not affecting our economy, why have successive administrations in these countries and the US in particular kept these sanctions. For leisure or fun?” asked Chinamasa as he reiterated the call for the unconditional removal of the sanctions.

The party’s acting spokesperson added that the media should play a leading role in exposing corruption which is a threat to the nation Vision 2030 to become a middle-class economy.

“Zanu PF in 2018 earmarked the fight against corruption as one of its key deliverables and to achieve that President ED Mnangagwa declared a zero-tolerance to corruption towards building a corruption-free society,” he said.

With the fight against corruption a key priority, Chinamasa said the media was a key ally in the fight against the cancerous vice that is ubiquitous, which also rampant in churches and the civil society organisations.