What’s The Value, What’s The Source? Critic Demands Answers On Mnangagwa Gifts To Malaba

Political commentator Davis Laque has criticised President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s decision to hand an agricultural mechanisation package to retired Chief Justice Luke Malaba, describing the gesture as “curiously problematic” and lacking transparency.

Writing in a thread on X, Laque said the gifts, which included a tractor, a Nissan UD truck, a boom sprayer and a planter, add to a pattern in which state and non-state players distribute cash and equipment in the name of the President or the government “with zero clarity on the source of this expenditure.”

He pointed to the role of the presidential investment adviser, who he said “dishes out thousands in cash and equipment at party rallies through an opaque system with zero accountability,” adding that there is no public account of the source or benefit of those “investments.”

Laque said two main questions arise from the Malaba handover: “What’s the total value?” and “What’s the source?”

“With zero clarification, zero transparency and zero accountability, this is the definition of bad governance,” he wrote.

The commentator also questioned the basis on which Malaba was being honoured, describing the retired Chief Justice as a “controversial and polarising individual.”

“For many, Malaba is remembered for the 2018 election petition showing massive evidence of electoral irregularities. It’s part of his legacy,” Laque said.

He recalled the 2021 extension of Malaba’s term after he reached the retirement age of 70, which was enabled by Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 2. Laque said the amendment was pushed through by “the Harare regime, in conjunction with a proxy opposition,” and that the political interests behind it “blurred the lines of separation of power.”

Laque argued that the timing of the gifts was particularly sensitive in light of the Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3, saying state institutions are already facing a polarising development.

“At a time when state institutions are faced with such a polarising development, the last thing you need is being perceived to be compensating loyalty or retroactively paying for past services,” he said.

He added that in a functional state, it is right to acknowledge deserving citizens, but only within the parameters of transparency, accountability, public interest, separation of powers and equality.

“But then again, we crossed those lines decades ago,” Laque said.

The Presidency has said the mechanisation package is meant to ease Malaba’s transition into retirement and is in recognition of his outstanding service spanning several decades.

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“Are we repeating past mistakes? Yes” — Commentator responds to Chiwenga’s Chinhoyi question Mnangagwa Rewards Retired Chief Justice, Luke Malaba, With Farm Kit