The Reason For Many Foreign Trips by Zimbabwe Politicians

https://www.herald.co.zw/ed-courts-africas-vote-on-sanctions/

If you would believe the Herald ED went to Guinea to ask for the removal of sanctions. I didn't know ED's spin doctors have such a low opinion of our intelligence. They would have us believe that ED's visit to Guinea is very important since it has something to do with the removal of Western sanctions.

The truth is quite different. Over the past few years successive ministers have lamented that the government wage bill was taking 90% of Zimbabwe's budget. The latest information filtering into the public domain is that 40% of this figure goes towards, not basic salaries, but allowances for top executives.

A substantial portion of these allowances are travel related. The reason why Zimbabwe's top leadership is always on the road with huge entourages is to give cronies and other posterior clingons the opportunity to milk state coffers dry through exorbitant travel allowances.

When they embark on these travels, they cannot use worthless Zimbabwe currency such as bond notes. That is the reason why they take foreign currency from anyone who brings it into Zimbabwe. They then quietly give their travel allowances priority when allocating that foreign currency to the extend of sometimes leaving the state without enough to import basic necessities such as fuel.

Travel is one of the main avenues through which the political elite have systematically skimmed state coffers of money. The reason why Zimbabwean presidents travel so often is they are under pressure from their patronees.

Mugabe stayed in power through carefully cultivating a patronage system. If you within his circle, you eat all you want. It looks like Munangagwa is well on his way down the same road.

To me the adoption of the same frequent travel routine as his predecessor is a sign the The System is running Munangagwa. It is not him running the system.

There are other ways the elite rob the state such as using their authority to evade statutory payments such as duty and tax for their businesses. They normally raise 'capital' for those ventures through travelling and coming back with allowances.

A large portion of the money is wasted on social consumption - parties, bling, expensive cars and other stupid things such as pouring expensive wines on expensive watches.