THERE was dancing in the streets when the military announced, in November of 2017, that it was targeting criminals around then president Robert Mugabe. The military had studied public frustrations and sought to ride that wave of discontent but toward its own ends.

It has since become clear that the military, and Zanu PF, had no desire to usher in democratic reforms as it claimed. Instead, it was working to protect and further its interests. The nation was deceived into sanitising a military coup, it must not be deceived again. It that vein, it is encouraging that the MDC has refused to cheer on the selective and well-choreographed actions of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).

The arrest of Tourism minister Priscah Mupfumira is clearly another attempt to ride public frustrations with corruption in furtherance of vested political interests.

If President Emmerson Mnangagwa was serious about corruption as he claims then why have the soldiers who murdered six unarmed civilians on August 1, 2018 not been prosecuted despite recommendations to that effect by the Motlanthe Commission?

The allegations against those soldiers are not in doubt. Their commanders are known. Their deeds were captured in full view of news cameras. They have not been prosecuted because Zanu PF is well aware that it needs the military to do its violent dirty work and prosecuting those soldiers would immediately render the security forces an unwilling tool in stifling dissent. The Zanu PF government will therefore continue to protect them.

While the allegations against Mupfumira will stand or fall in court, the prospects of a conviction already appear slim. This raises the question as to why ZACC has foregone cases that are sure to produce convictions in preference for an apparently weaker case.

Prosecutors allege Mupfumira gave verbal instructions for NSSA to bailout or partner various entities. Her lawyer yesterday argued that the investments in question could not have been made without NSSA board resolutions. Unless the NSSA board can testify that it was under duress, the entire case falls on its face. Other claims surrounding a loan for the purchase of a vehicle are likely to equally fail given 2015-16 directives by the Office of the President and Cabinet allowing ministries to borrow from entities under their purview. In any case, her lawyer argues, the loan application would have been made by the Permanent Secretary who reports to the President and would have been responsible for getting such authorisations as were being given at the time.

Green Fuel continues to enjoy an ethanol blending monopoly by force of law despite other players having capacity to tap into this profitable trade. This is corruption in high places that remains unmolested 20 months after President Mnangagwa came to power. Why?

The NSSA forensic audit report remains a secret despite a constitutional requirement for it to be tabled before Parliament. Sekai Nzenza, Mupfumira’s successor at the Labour ministry, has arrogantly refused to release the document. Why? Because that document implicates powerful individuals that are beyond the reach of the short arm of Zimbabwean law.

An example of why government wishes to keep that report secret is the US$7,000 paid to musician Jah Prayzah to perform at an event attended by President Mnangagwa. If the NSSA report was made public, questions would be raised as to why Mupfumira is being selectively prosecuted with payments that went to Zanu PF activities remaining unmentioned.

Parliament recently heard from the Agriculture permanent secretary that he had no knowledge of how US$3 billion in Command Agriculture funds were used. Those funds came from what were meant to be non-tradable Treasury Bills that were traded on the market before the due date. In effect, it means government funded the programme itself at a premium as it could have just issued those Treasury Bills direct to the market without a middleman. Nobody has been arrested for trading those Treasury Bills. Why? Because the authorities have no genuine interest in fighting corruption.

If the authorities are willing to let such brazen acts of corruption go by then questions must therefore be asked as to why Mupfumira has been targeted. The Zanu PF government would be very happy to mislead the public into believing that the arrest is the beginning of a serious anti-corruption campaign but the evidence suggests otherwise.

Mupfumira is likely a victim of Zanu PF’s vicious internal power struggles and, sadly, she may end up a sacrificial lamb.

Edmund Kudzayi is the publisher of the Kukurigo WhatsApp news platform