Corruption era is over, says President
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has said the era of corruption and bribing prosecutors to sweep corruption under the carpet is over after he set up an Anti-Corruption Prosecution Unit in his office.
The President said although some criminals had been arrested, he was not happy with the pace of prosecution.
President Mnangagwa made the remarks while addressing over 40 000 youths in Gweru yesterday during a convention organised by the Zanu-PF Youth League.
“On the question of eradication of corruption, there are some criminals that were arrested, but we are not happy with the pace at which the prosecution is taking place,” he said.
“We are not happy. I think you heard last week that I have now established an Anti-Corruption Prosecution Unit in the Office of the President. Saka masamba asiyana. Vange vachifunga kuti ticharamba tichingoita zvatange tichiita tichitenga maprosecutor nevamwe vakadaro zvaparara. But I appeal to you the young that you must be the eyes and ears of Government.
“You must be the eyes and ears of our economy because if there is corruption among industry and commerce, in the public sector as well as private sector, the pace of growth is retarded as a result of corruption. We must eradicate corruption. But also, let us from now begin to be smart not only smart in mind, but smart in where we work, smart in where we travel and smart in where we stay.”
President Mnangagwa added: “Let our towns be smart. Let our towns be clean. The face of the environment after this election, we are going to come town by town, city by city, making sure the cities will be clean again. I appeal to you the youths to support me and my administration to again make our cities, make our towns clean as you can see other towns elsewhere.”
He said before chasing away vendors from the towns, it was important to build decent infrastructure where they could conduct their business.
Commenting on the forthcoming general elections, President Mnangagwa urged the youths to vote for Zanu-PF to safeguard the country’s heritage.
“We protect this heritage by voting for a revolutionary party that has liberated this country,” said President Mnangagwa.
“Modernise”
“It is the only party in our country which knows the tribulations that we went through in order for us to today enjoy as we are. Kuti nhasi vanhu vafare vachituka vamwe ifreedom yakaunzwa nevakairwira. Asi kana ukatuka, kana ukadzvanyirira, the voice of the people is the voice of God. That voice inokutonga wotongeka wakangonyarara asi woona zvino kuti ndatongwa.
“We preserve this heritage by voting Zanu-PF kuti irambe ichitonga. Your burden as the youths is to preserve this heritage. Isu vatungamiriri tine mutoro wekugadzira nyika iyi kuti ikuzipirei. How do we achieve that?
“We must make sure we put up programmes in this country to modernise our country, modernise our agriculture, modernise our industry, modernise our commerce, modernise our infrastructure, modernise our health sector and modernise our education sector.”
The convention was also attended by senior Zanu-PF leadership, including the two Vice Presidents Dr Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, several Politburo members and the Zanu-PF Youth League leadership.