Mutumwa Mawere

It is significant that President Mugabe confirmed that his daughter was studying in a foreign country and that a house had been secured for her and a bodyguard with all expenses payable in foreign currency. President Mugabe is a servant of the people of Zimbabwe and has been employed in the same position for the last 29 years. His income like that of the majority of Zimbabweans until recently was paid in local currency.

Residents like President Mugabe were restricted in how much foreign currency they could externalize and all dealings in foreign currency had to be processed through authorized dealers.

When Gono was appointed as Governor in December 2003, a new crime called externalization was introduced into the Zimbabwean statutes. It was President Mugabe who in February 2004 after the arrest of Mr. James Makamba on allegations of externalization that issued a decree allowing for the detention of suspects without bail for up to four weeks for political and economic offenses. The decree was promulgated without the knowledge of parliament using the state of emergency powers.

The decree whose first victim was Makamba was officially aimed at fighting corruption, money laundering and other economic offenses. President Mugabe's order gave the police the power to detain suspects for seven days without evidence of a crime and a further 21 days after showing enough proof to justify court proceedings.

Mr. Makamba was arrested on February 7, 2004 for alleged illegal currency deals and the High Court refused him bail under the decree. Minister Chinamasa justified the decree at the time by saying that it was aimed at helping police save time and frequent court appearances in connection with a growing number of economic crimes.

Makamba was charged with 22 counts of externalizing foreign currency and if President Mugabe were an ordinary citizen he no doubt would have been suspect by merely admitting that he had foreign rental obligations without showing the source of funds.

In response to the questions about the arrest, acquittal and re-arrest of Makamba on allegations of externalization, Mr. Wayne Bvudzijena of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) had this to say about the attitude of the police to economic crimes: "The police would like to assure the public that the force is determined to ruthlessly deal with all forms of economic deviancy and we continue to appeal to the public to supply us with information as regards such crimes."

Mr. Muderedi, a businessman, was also arrested on similar charges. The former Minister of Finance, Dr. Chris Kuruneri, also became a victim of the same law when like the case with President Mugabe; properties owned by Dr. Kuruneri in Cape Town were exposed in the media.

He was arrested in April 2004 and faced counts of breaching Zimbabwe Exchange Control laws by allegedly transferring US$500,000, 37,000 British pounds, 30,000 euros and 1.2 million South African to buy and renovate an eight-bedroomed house.

President Mugabe has confirmed that he has been paying the rent for his daughter's house and, therefore, such confirmation would constitute an admission of guilt under the laws of Zimbabwe. One would assume that the source of funds for the rent is income earned in Zimbabwe in lieu of the services rendered by the President to the government.

Kuruneri like many businessmen was arrested at the height of the government's anti-corruption crusade. Kuruneri was acquitted after spending more than a year in a remand jail and 10 appeals for bail.

The revelation by the President that he has external obligations would ordinarily raise a host of legal and political issues about equal treatment under the law. However, the law that applies to other people, for example, Makamba, Kuruneri and etc apparently do not apply to President Mugabe.

The accidental discovery of President Mugabe's financial links with Hong Kong should open a new conversation on the absurdity and hypocrisy of Gono's selective targeting of people on allegations of externalization fully knowing that the same conduct is the order of business for other state actors.

In the interests of transparency and good governance, I do hope that the inclusive government will put in place measures to compel state actors to disclose their assets and liabilities.