As he turns 93, Mugabe junks graft charges

Harare, February 21

As he celebrated his 93rd birthday on Tuesday, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe brushed aside persistent allegations of corruption against senior officials, saying rumour-mongers were merely targeting “big fish” in his administration.

In comments to be aired on state media on Tuesday, the world’s oldest leader said he would act if shown evidence — even though graft scandals involving ministers and even members of his own family are regular fare in local newspapers. “I think the big fish, more of it has been talk, talk and talk. People have not come out and actually said here is a case against a big fish,” Mugabe said in a pre-recorded interview.

“Or are people afraid to come out and even come to us and say ‘This one is stealing so much, investigate the person?’ If there is evidence, we will pursue that evidence and certainly we will deal with those persons,” he said.

Despite the almost daily slew of scandals involving state tenders and contracts reported in Zimbabwe’s free-wheeling private media, investigations are rare and arrests even rarer.

The anti-corruption panel is currently fighting the higher education minister and his deputy, who are accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a state fund. They, however, deny the charges. Parliament has also penned reports recommending probe into irregular tender allocations. The reports have been ignored. — Reuters