Energy Mutodi’s Forced Apology Changes Nothing – Chin’ono

Award-winning journalist Hopewell Chin’ono says the high-profile apology issued by Bikita South Member of Parliament Energy Mutodi (ZANU PF) to Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary George Guvamatanga is more than just a retraction; it is a damning indictment of a political system designed to protect power and punish truth-telling.

Posting on X, Chin’ono asserted that Mutodi’s apology, written following tweets that questioned the integrity of the government payment system and Guvamatanga’s conduct, changes absolutely nothing about the rot at the heart of public finance management.

He said the “forced” apology it exposes how the architecture of power in Zimbabwe works tirelessly to shield itself from scrutiny. Wrote Chin’ono:

“Energy Mutodi’s apology to George Guvamatanga, the Finance Ministry’s permanent secretary, changes absolutely nothing.

“A statement written under political pressure does not absolve anyone of corruption, it simply exposes how power protects itself in Zimbabwe.

“When a Member of Parliament apologises to a powerful bureaucrat like Guvamatanga, it is rarely because the facts have changed.

“It is because truth-telling is punished and silence is rewarded. Mutodi’s letter is the political equivalent of a forced apology, it is tidy on paper but hollow in truth.

“Zimbabweans must not be fooled by these public-relations performances. The same Guvamatanga presides over a ministry at the centre of some of the worst historic financial scandals in our country’s post colonial history.

“Civil servants today go unpaid, hospitals have no medicines or medical equipment, pensioners are starving, yet senior officials throw champagne-soaked birthday parties as if poverty were a spectator sport.

“That is not leadership, it is gluttony disguised as service by people who host extravagant parties, inviting international artists and paying them twice what they asked, in a country where the same permanent secretary cannot release funds for basic painkillers in public hospitals.

“Our economy did not collapse because of tweets; it collapsed because of the greed of men like Guvamatanga who are shielded by Emmerson Mnangagwa’s corrupt regime and political system.

“Until there is genuine accountability, no apology letter, no press release, and no propaganda will wash away the stench of corruption that continues to choke Zimbabwe, whose main epicentre is the Ministry of Finance.

“When corruption forces Members of Parliament to write apology letters, the ink is made of stolen money.

“Energy Mutodi is a ZANUPF Member of Parliament. He chairs the Parliament’s Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee, often called the Budget and Finance Committee, which gives him an oversight role over public finances and government spending.

“He has now been asked to bend his knee, and we know why, and we know by whom. But that will not change what he said — the horse has already bolted.”

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