WHILE the country has in recent years been rocked by scandals of corruption at almost all levels of society, its incidence could be best understood in the context of colonialism through its systematic use of material inducements to compel Africans to accept the settlers.
The term corruption as defined by Transparency International refers to: “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It hurts everyone who depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.”
In the olden days when the first trade deals between missionaries and locals took place, chiefs and administrators would collaborate with the missionaries in their project of entrenching the power and authority to dupe the ordinary man to accumulate wealth.
This also took place during the slave trade era where those with power and authority would connive to capture and sell ‘quality products’ for a fortune.
In their paper titled ‘Interrogating Our Past: Colonialism and Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa’ published in 1989 by the African Journal of Political Science (1998), Vol. 3 No. 2, Munyae M. Mulinge and Gwen N. Lesetedi, argue that previous efforts to explain the existence of corruption in Africa have failed to incorporate the historical perspective.
“However, previous efforts to diagnose the factors accounting for the genesis and persistence of corruption in sub-Saharan Africa have seemingly failed to incorporate its historical grounding,” reads their paper in part.
“The outcome has been the exclusion of historically rooted causes of the phenomenon and especially those associated with colonialism.”
History shows that before the coming of the white man and money we were an honest and transparent people.
For corruption to thrive, it required and still requires a well developed monetary economy.
In ancient times, existing economies lacked the infrastructure necessary for engaging in corruption.
New economies created by colonial governments nurtured conditions for the evolution of structures that were conducive for corruption to thrive.
In settler colonies like Zimbabwe for example, taxation was used by colonialists to force Africans to offer themselves as cheap labour.
It was the manner used by colonialists to collect the taxes that created the structures for corruption to evolve.
The colonial Government mostly relied on African leaders especially chiefs and other authorities to collect the tax.
To motivate these leaders to generate as much tax revenue as possible, the colonialists allowed the African leaders to retain part of the tax. This practice amounted to the taking of kickbacks by the African leaders.
Equally compelling was the method used by colonialists to employ Africans in their firms.
Colonialists used a systematic divide-and-rule tactic of favouring one tribe over the other and giving positions of authority to the favoured tribe.
In order to get employment, the minority tribe would bribe the man in charge while women suffered the same fate.
It is important therefore to note that before the coming of whites, corruption was alien to our way of living.
Corruption stripped black people of their values. It stripped them of their integrity. It stripped them of Hunhu/Ubuntu.
It also divided them along tribal lines. The practice of post-colonial Zimbabwe elites is therefore an extension of such colonial policies to entrench corruption.
Since the ancient times, abuse of authority has been firmly entrenched in the society as leaders use their positions to acquire wealth in unprecedented proportions.
Zimbabwe is no exception to this chronic human ailment.
But with it comes the issue of values and integrity.
Corruption is a result of erosion of values and integrity.
Many will remember the infamous Willowgate Scandal of the late 1990s that led to the resignations and death of some senior Government officials.
These Willowgate gentlemen were driven by values and integrity hence their decisions to resign and sadly take their own life.
Since the turn of the millennium when sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe by the West, there has been an unprecedented upturn of cases of corruption at all levels.
Last week President Robert Mugabe tore into Cabinet Ministers and senior Government officials who engage in corrupt activities.
Cabinet ministers and senior Government officials must not be corruptible and those caught on the wrong side of the law will be prosecuted, President Mugabe said.
President Mugabe, who was on a week-long State visit in China last week, said this during an interview with Guangdong province’s top television station, Guangdong TV. 
“Corruption, corruption is part of us to make a choice between right and wrong,” he said.
“What is a right thing for us to do? The ethics of our actions.”
President Mugabe gave a solution that has eluded many in the country when he said there were a number of ways in which corruption could be curbed adding that it was not the role of Government and law enforcements agents to fight the vice alone.
“First, your society must be well-schooled on what is right and what is wrong and that’s why we also insist that the schools, the churches and other organisations must give instructions to people as they grow,” he said.
He said even if they were taught on morals, people would naturally be tempted to fall prey to the vice, as such any corrupt people would be punished.
“If you detect people who have committed theft, who have defrauded an organisation or company, they must be punished and punished by being sent to prison. We send them to prison,” said President Mugabe.
“And those in the leadership must lead by example . . . Ministers of Government, officials in Government they must be the model of good behaviour, of good conduct, of respecting the ethics of their actions.”
With the genesis of corruption having been unravelled it is important to seriously look into it when dealing with vice.