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Tendai Manzvazvike Group Foreign Editor
CROSSTALK show host Peter Lavelle, on January 27 said on RT television, “The more you know how the rich people make their money, the more it makes you angry.”
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? For, now we know how some of the movers and shakers in our midst have been making those millions, without any hard work.

Corruption, greed, heartlessness, lack of conscience – these have become so commonplace in our day-to-day lives to the extent that in some cases, it’s as if they are a part of our cultural traditions.

Corruption and greed are also contagious. They are vices that endanger the morals of the whole nation
We don’t know how many are in it, but we know that we are all on the receiving end and paying dearly for the greed of a small percentage of our population.

The revelations of the pillaging and plundering of monies in the public and private sectors continue. Millions have disappeared under our very noses. Where were we all when this muck was taking place?

As talk of the liquidity crunch gained momentum last year, there have been desperate attempts to locate every cent and to have it accounted for.

All those moons of economic governance started to pay off as we suddenly realised that while the majority of people worked so hard to eke out a living, there was that small group, that seemed to have bagfuls of it – big monies that could buy anything, and take them anywhere in the world. They didn’t have to work very hard, because the people’s hard-earned cash was there for them for the taking.
As they took people for fools they think they are, they believed they would continue doing so. When you reach such a point, you know that you are in the abyss and only the devil himself can rescue you if at all he has that power.

Many who have been to hospitals, clinics and doctors’ rooms, know that unless you pay up, there is no service. Many have been turned away on their death beds and thousands have died because of lack of medical care. Others who have medical insurance have wondered at the relevance as they are told that they have to pay cash upfront. Even if it is a paltry US$5, it’s as if you are being asked to pay US$5 million.

Most of us have moved around with medical aid membership cards in our wallets, but they were cards not worth the paper they are printed on. They also had payslips, which indicate that money is being deducted monthly to empower that medical aid card, but alas, that’s not the case.

You lose both ways while they have the best lifestyle that your money can buy. When we read about Occupy Wall Street, this was what those protesters were demonstrating against: that they are made losers by a bunch of people who deserve to be locked away in a maximum security prison for crimes against humanity.

However, upon reflection I tell myself that the missing piece in the whole “cash-gate” saga is you and me.
We are in this together as victims and perpetrators of such dastardly and inhuman acts. If we think that a certain group of people should claim responsibility, then we’re very wrong.

These people are a part of society and as such they mirror the state in which we are – morally, physically and spiritually – that is, decadence.

We have sunk to the bottomless pit because we saw them live lifestyles of the rich and famous, but as a society never bothered asking pertinent questions – where was the money coming from in an economy that was reviving, and where civil servants were earning a pittance, and more people were losing formal employment and being pushed into the informal sector.

When money laundering, offshore banking, drug and human trafficking, tax evasion and clandestine financing of terrorist activities were making headlines in other parts of the world, it was as if we were untouchables, where a tiny percentage of the population could determine whether we sink or remain afloat.

It was a vice that touched all sectors of society. Even the church was not spared, as some joined the fray using the gospel as a ploy to milk money from the people. Thus the people, ordinary people became the cash cows in enriching this small group of people.

You should hear the talk in their circles. It’s all about the latest cars, houses and holiday resorts they have been to. If the people think that they care about their welfare let alone feel shameful about their acts then they must think again.

They don’t give a damn.
Their motto is “me, myself, I” and they will tell you that if you snooze, you lose, and that you make hay while the sun is still shining.
I also feel sorry for the people who are calling for Government to institute a “Sandura-like” commission of inquiry. There is nothing wrong with such utopian dreams.

If there were lessons learnt from that Commission were a number of high-level Government officials lost their jobs, and one of them tragically ended his life, this would have been the end of greed and corruption. It was a deterrent measure, but one that was only effective for that period.

The extent of the current rot, which is affecting everyone, means that such a Commission would have to be instituted by heaven itself, for you can’t bribe God. This means coming up with holistic ideas to deal with such vices, while at the same time ensuring that perpetrators pay heavily for their evil acts.

It is also worthwhile posing the question by Anne Bishop in Heir to the Shadows, “When honour and the law no longer stand on the same side of the line, how do we choose?”