How Zitto changed his mind

MP Zitto Zuberi Kabwe

Zitto Zuberi Kabwe may have made a political milestone in the short-run following his private motion he tabled in Parliament last week about the alleged stolen billions banked in Switzerland, but in the long run, his motion may have a claw-back effect -- and render the entire exercise baseless.

Earlier, Zitto had promised to reveal all the individuals who he claimed had stolen billions of shillings in Tanzania and kept the monies in Swiss banks. He also claimed that the Sh314 billions were fraudulently or corruptly obtained during the oil and gas deals.

But when he rose in Parliament, apart from rumbling around the subject matter, the lawmaker failed to name the names of Tanzanians against whom he raises accusations of stashing away the Sh314 billions, contrary to his earlier promise.

While Zitto, the young outspoken Kigoma North legislator has the audacity to name two people including Africa’s richest man, Tokyo Sixwale, who is the South African Minister for human settlement and a devoted member of African National Congress and a fixer, Moto Mabanga, he failed to name the locals who stashed billions to Switzerland – in the same breath.

Moto Mabanga is a well known fixer in Africa who has played many roles in enabling multinational investors to secure ‘smooth’ investments in many countries -- including Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to court documents obtained by The Guardian on Sunday, Moto Mabanga was responsible for facilitating the entry of Ophir Energy into the Tanzania oil and gas exploration business about five years ago. He is among the richest fixers in Southern Africa who last year won a $21 million (Sh37.2 billion) bounty from Vodacom following the High Court judgment in Kinshasa.

Even though he enjoys full parliamentary immunity, Zitto failed to name the locals during his private motion; instead, Zitto has thrown back the task to the government, which will also end up bluffing because the matter in question is very complicated – well beyond the cheap politics of Dar es Salaam.

Tokyo Sixwale is South African businessman, politician, anti-apartheid activist, and former political prisoner. A charismatic leader, Sexwale was imprisoned on Robben Island for his anti-apartheid activities, alongside figures such as Nelson Mandela. After the 1994 general election—the first universal franchise election in South Africa—Sexwale became the Premier of Gauteng Province. In particular, Sexwale has become a major player in the diamond industry, with his company reportedly being the third biggest after De Beers and JFPI Corporation.

Sixwale was praised by no less a figure than Harry Oppenheimer, the patriarch of the Anglo-American and De Beers corporations, as having an understanding of the South African and international diamond mining industry that few can equal. Sixwale also chairs companies such as the Trans Hex Group Ltd and Northam Platinum Ltd.; in addition, he is a director of companies such as Absa Group Limited, Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd. (more commonly known as Altech) and Gold Fields Ltd. (the latter two positions are non-executive).

He is also known as a philanthropist and is a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Global Philanthropists Circle of the Synergos Institute, the Business Trust and the Robben Island Ex-Prisoners Trust.

Furthermore, he is a patron of societies such as Johannesburg Child and Family Welfare Society, Streetwise South Africa (an organisation dedicated to assisting street children), Save the Family Fund (catering for families and communities ravaged by apartheid violence) and The Sky is No Limit (which aims to expose disadvantaged youths to hi-tech education in computers and aviation).

Instead of naming Tanzanians, he chose to go for foreigners—a move he also did with no strong evidence. So were these the locals Zitto chose to name in Parliament? It’s on record that Zitto promised during the august house that he would name all locals who have stashed stolen billions into Swiss banks.

Sensing the potential of gaining some political mileage in his party as well as countrywide, Zitto picked the story that was first reported by The Guardian, and made it his new agenda.

Finally, he promised that he would name all Tanzanians who have kept their billions in Swiss banks. But when the time to spill the bins approached, he changed tack, and just named two foreigners instead of the locals he had earlier promised. So how much did he know about the Swiss billions? Was he bluffing? Why didn’t he name the locals who have hidden the billions in Swiss banks? What made him changes his mind in the last minute? What kind of evidence does he possess to build his case against the locals who have kept their billions in offshore banks?

In his motion, Zitto admitted that some countries like Kenya were forced to hire international investigators to trace the looted billions. This story was first reported in June, this year by the local media.

Now between June and October, this year, it was impossible for Zitto as an individual to have conducted an international investigation about the stolen billions and to have established the names of Tanzanians who hid the monies in Switzerland. For those who are familiar with the radar case, it took UK’s serious fraud office about two years to establish that Andrew Chenge had $2 million in his offshore bank account in Jersey.

To put things into perspective, it was impossible for Zitto to have conducted a thorough investigation about the alleged Swiss billions in a record short time—of three months.

That’s why to some analysts who know how complicated it is to trace offshore accounts, it wasn’t surprising to hear the mention of the two foreigners instead of telling the nation what he had earlier promised.