What’s the point of prosecuting those looting millions while ignoring those stealing billions?

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

The recent announcement by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission detailing 195 arrests, 90 convictions, and the seizure of 14 vehicles is intended to be read as a triumph.

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On paper, a 70% conviction rate looks like the mark of a functioning watchdog making tangible progress against graft.

Yet for ordinary Zimbabweans enduring dilapidated public schools, under-resourced hospitals, and crumbling infrastructure, these figures offer little comfort.

The numbers presented by the commission reveal an uncomfortable reality.

While the state aggressively pursues low-level offenders and smaller schemes, the colossal figures hemorrhaging from the nation’s economy remain entirely unaddressed.

Zimbabwe reportedly loses more than $4 billion every single year to gold smuggling, illicit financial flows, and bloated, fraudulent public tender processes.

Against a backdrop of economic devastation on that scale, a hand-full of vehicle forfeitures and prosecutions involving millions of dollars represent nothing more than a drop in an ocean.

The arrests boast of catching those who have diverted millions, but where are the investigations into those who are siphoning off the remaining billions?

What is happening to the vast wealth continuously leaving the country through illicit pipelines, and why do those operating at the very top of these networks remain untouched?

It is both disingenuous and absurd to suggest that a lack of prosecution is simply due to a lack of evidence.

An entire state anti-corruption agency, backed by the legal authority and investigative machinery of the nation, cannot reasonably claim helplessness when tasked with building strong cases against those prejudicing the country by billions.

When institutional inertia or deliberate oversight prevents deep-seated financial crimes from being investigated, the public is left to draw obvious conclusions about where the true limits of enforcement lie.

Consider the spectacle of individuals freely distributing millions of dollars in hard currency and luxury vehicles, or cases where multi-million-dollar cash sums are allegedly stolen from private residences.

In any functioning system, such extraordinary displays of unearned affluence would immediately trigger financial investigations.

If someone like me were to walk into a police station today and report a stolen Bugatti and $1 million in cash, the police wouldn’t start by hunting for suspects—they would demand to know where I got that kind of money.

Yet, when individuals without identifiable or commensurate business operations flaunt astronomical wealth, the commission appears strikingly indifferent.

Unexplained wealth of this magnitude should be the primary focus of any serious anti-corruption agency, rather than an unexamined anomaly.

While securing convictions for smaller-scale corruption is technically a positive legal development, its impact is completely neutralized when systemic looting continues unimpeded.

Plugging a tiny leak while leaving the main valve wide open does nothing to save the vessel.

Small-scale prosecutions serve as a convenient distraction, allowing institutions to project an image of decisive action while avoiding the structural forces that are actively bankrupting the country.

Until the anti-corruption commission demonstrates the courage and independence required to confront the high-level networks bleeding Zimbabwe dry, these statistical reports will remain empty gestures.

True accountability cannot be measured by the number of minor officials or opportunistic operators brought to court while the principal architects of economic ruin walk free.

Ordinary citizens will only believe in a genuine fight against corruption when the law is applied without fear or favor to everyone, regardless of their status or wealth.

Plugging a minor drip while allowing an entire river of wealth to flow away unchecked changes nothing.

• *Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or *

  mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com