Zanu-PF today is a ruling party steeped in patronage politics and captured by rogue capitalists and criminals of all stripes who are making millions out of a crooked system while hospitals and schools rot and 44% of the population is stuck in extreme poverty.

The Zimbabwean government says it is moving with speed to take action against the "gold Mafia" shown in Al Jazeera's undercover documentary that exposed the complicity of officials and state entities in money laundering and widespread fraud.

Minister of Information Monica Mutsvanga claims that the government takes the allegations "seriously" and is "investigating". But she lays the blame on "boastful behaviour and name-dropping" by those such as Uebert Angel, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ambassador-at-large and self-styled Godfather of the GoodNews Church who has reportedly been thrown under the bus.

What prompted this surprising responsiveness could be the fact that the investigation was conducted by Al Jazeera and not the usual suspects in the Western and South African media.

After all, the criminal web of cartels and thieves was well known already. It was laid bare in the comprehensive and explosive report published by Maverick Citizen more than two years ago.

That report followed the trail of criminality to the big man himself, President Mnangagwa, and there were no statements in response saying that the government was "seized by the matter".

African Development Bank dialogue

What has changed is that Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank, initiated a dialogue...