THE NSSA SCANDAL THAT SHOWS HOW DEEP CORRUPTION RUNS IN ZIMBABWE

This story about NSSA chairman Emmanuel Fundira and former RTG worker Paula January shows again how deep corruption has gone in our country. As a political activist who has watched ZANU PF destroy every public institution, I am not shocked at all. But many Zimbabweans are shocked because this case shows how people in high offices use power for their own gain while ordinary citizens suffer every day.

Police questioned Fundira because he is linked to an extortion plot with January. The two are accused of trying to force RTG to give January money or her old job. They are also accused of trying to push down the value of RTG on the stock market so they could buy cheap shares for themselves. This is the kind of selfish behaviour that has become normal in Zimbabwe under the current system.

January was fired from RTG in 2019 after a sad incident at Kadoma Hotel. Now she is said to be threatening RTG bosses. In the audio recordings she demands money or reinstatement. She even says she will report the bosses to ZACC for fraud and money laundering if they do not do what she wants. Police believe she was able to do this because Fundira shared private RTG information with her.

What makes this worse is that Fundira had full access to RTG financial and operational records because he is the NSSA chairman. He should have protected this information. Instead he used it to help January target RTG bosses. In one audio clip, January even mentions him by name as she talks about RTG salaries and allowances. This shows they were working together.

Fundira was also supposed to stay away from conflicts of interest because he used to be chairman of African Sun Limited. But it looks like he still used his position at NSSA to benefit himself and the people he works with. This is exactly why Zimbabwe is stuck. Leaders who must protect public institutions are the ones breaking them.

RTG has tried to defend itself. After a court cancelled the first ZACC warrant, RTG stopped the investigation for a short time. But ZACC came back again and accused RTG bosses of money laundering and illegal foreign currency deals. Even with all these legal fights, the accusations against Fundira and January continue. January has now left the country and is said to be in Malawi. Police cannot find her. Fundira is silent and refuses to explain anything.

NSSA owns 91.6 percent of RTG and plans to sell 56 percent of the shares. But many people think Fundira and his friends tried to damage RTG’s value so that they could buy the shares for less. This is corruption done in the open.

This scandal shows once again that our institutions are not safe under the current system. It also puts RTG at risk because people do not trust a company that is surrounded by this kind of drama. As Zimbabweans, we must keep speaking out. We must keep exposing corruption. And we must keep fighting for a country where public offices serve the people, not greedy individuals.