ZIMBABWE IS BLEEDING WHILE THE THIEVES DANCE IN SILENCE

In Zimbabwe today, corruption is no longer hidden. It is open. It is loud. It is protected by silence at the top. Once again, government officials are stealing public money without fear, and no one is being punished. The Auditor-General’s latest report has shown how officials pocketed travel allowances without any proof that they ever travelled. This is not just carelessness. It is organised looting in broad daylight.

The report, for the year ending 31 December 2024, was given to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and Parliament last month. In it, acting Auditor-General Rheah Kujinga exposed how government officials claimed a total of ZWL$38,288,135 in travel and subsistence allowances — without saying where they went, what time they left, or when they returned. Just imagine that. No details. No records. No evidence. Yet the payments were made in full.

The law under the Public Finance Management (Treasury Instructions) of 2019 is clear. Before any payment is made, the officer in charge must check if the claim is complete and correct. But in this case, it was not. It was empty. It was fake. And still, the government approved it. This is not a mistake. It is a system built to steal.

If no arrival and departure times are written, how do we know the person travelled at all? What if the trip was never real? What if someone claimed for five days but only travelled one? That is how public money disappears — little by little, until the country has nothing left. This is how a nation dies while the powerful grow rich.

The government’s audit team made a soft recommendation: that in future, forms must have proper details. The management’s answer was even softer: “We acknowledge the finding. Staff will be encouraged to include departure and arrival times.” Encouraged! Not punished. Not even warned. Just encouraged. That is how you protect corruption — by pretending to fix it.

Meanwhile, teachers are crying over unpaid salaries. Hospitals are running without medicine. Pensioners are begging in the streets. And children walk long distances to schools with no books or desks. All this suffering while elites are swimming in stolen money. Every stolen dollar is a wound to this country. Every fake trip is another nail in the coffin of our future.

ZWL$38 million could have done so much. It could have built boreholes in rural areas. It could have repaired broken roads. It could have bought hospital equipment and textbooks for thousands of students. But instead, it ended up in the pockets of a few greedy people who know they are untouchable. In Zimbabwe, corruption is not punished. It is rewarded.

The silence from Parliament is painful. They received the report. They read it. But they said nothing. They sit there quietly because many of them feed from the same dirty plate. That is why we, the people, must speak louder. We must demand justice. We must demand a full list of names — who claimed the money, for what, and where did they go? We must demand arrests. We must demand change.

Zimbabwe does not need more reports. It needs action. It needs leaders who serve, not steal. The country is bleeding, and the people are tired. We cannot stay silent while our future is looted.

Where did the ZWL$38 million go? Who took it? And who will be punished? Until those questions are answered, the blood of Zimbabwe will keep flowing. The people will keep suffering. And the thieves will keep dancing in silence.

It is time to stop them. It is time to fight back. It is time for real change.