PUBLIC FUNDS, PRIVATE MANSIONS: PARLIAMENT MUST PAY BACK WHAT IT STOLE

What we are hearing from the Auditor-General is not small talk. It is a serious warning that public money is being used like a personal wallet by people at the top. Nearly US$400 000 was used to upgrade the private home of the Senate President. This is not a rumour. It is in official reports, and it points to a system that has stopped fearing the law.

Let us be clear. This is not about party colours or personal feelings. This is about law, ethics, and accountability. Procurement rules exist for a reason. They protect public money. They stop friends and relatives from getting secret deals. They make sure we get value for money. But according to the Auditor-General, these rules were broken again and again. Competitive tenders were avoided. Proper procedures were bypassed. And the result was simple: public funds were turned into private comfort.

That is why many Zimbabweans feel angry, tired, and insulted. Hospitals have no medicine. Schools have no books. Roads are full of potholes. Young people have no jobs. Parents cannot afford basic groceries. Yet a senior public official’s private residence is upgraded using money that should have served the public. This is what ZANU PF has normalised. A leadership culture that eats first, eats best, and then tells the people to be patient.

We have seen this story before in the region. In South Africa, public funds were used to upgrade Jacob Zuma’s private home. The matter went to the highest court. The ruling was clear. The money had to be paid back. Accountability was not negotiated. It was enforced. If that standard can apply there, it must apply here too.

Zimbabwe cannot keep rewarding theft with silence. When public funds are used for private benefit, the beneficiary must pay back the money. No one should be protected because they hold a senior office. In fact, senior office should mean higher responsibility, not bigger privilege.

What makes this even worse is the role of Parliament itself. Parliament is supposed to watch the Executive and protect citizens. It is meant to be the oversight body. So if Parliament becomes a place where corruption grows, then we must ask the hard question. Who guards the guardians.

That is why I am calling for strong, immediate steps. We need a full, independent forensic audit of Parliament. It must cover procurement, building upgrades, fuel allocations, and every discretionary expense. We need ZACC to investigate every transaction flagged by the Auditor-General, without fear or favour. We need equal scrutiny of all senior parliamentary office holders, including whether similar public spending was used at the Speaker’s residence or offices. And the Public Accounts Committee must do its work in full, in public, with cameras present, and without secrecy.

If anyone blocks this process, Parliament should name them publicly. The media must not be excluded. Citizens must follow the money and demand receipts.

Accountability cannot be selective. Anti-corruption cannot be a loud slogan used only against opponents while those in power hide behind titles. These revelations also come at a sensitive time, when Parliament is being pushed as the tool for constitutional changes under the so-called 2030 Agenda. A Parliament stained by corruption cannot claim moral authority to extend anyone’s term, or to rewrite the social contract with the people.

Zimbabweans deserve better. Public money must serve public good, not private mansions. The law must apply equally, or it applies to no one. Those responsible must answer. And where money was wrongly taken, it must be paid back now. Now, not tomorrow, today alone.