ZACC was meant to leave no stone unturned in its fight against corruption, but it has been heavily criticized for failing to reign in some “big fish” involved in corrupt activities.
Losing revenue
Chairperson of the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption, Willias Madzime, expressed concern over the speed and approach being taken by the ZACC in arresting corruption in the country. He said the ZACC was concentrating on trivial cases of corruption and leaving out the bigger ones that had deprived the country of huge sums of revenue.
“For example, there was a motion that was moved in Parliament to probe corruption at the RBZ but no action has been taken and it seems attempts to investigate the central bank have failed. We need an effective anti-corruption commission that moves swiftly to investigate issues like these because the country will continue to lose a lot of revenue,” said Madzimure.
Analysts have expressed concern over the lack of political will to address corruption in Zimbabwe. They pointed out that some politicians were abusing their influence to act above the law and engage in corrupt activities knowing that the ZACC lacks the authority to catch them.
This has been evidenced by the plundering of the county’s resources such as diamonds while the ZACC looks on. Finance Minister, Tendai Biti is on record as saying that the lack of transparency over diamond trade in Zimbabwe was depriving the country of huge sums of money.
Political analyst, Eldred Masunungure, said there was need to strengthen the powers of the ZACC. “The Anti Corruption Commission is confining itself to the small fish and the big fish are untouchable. They are not allowed to arrest and prosecute and it is the Attorney General’s office that decides whether to prosecute, which is a problem,” said Masunungure.
Good on paper
He added that the ZACC was a good initiative on paper but was doing little on the ground. He said the ZACC was financially incapacitated to carry out its mandate. “The commission is hopelessly under-resourced. It has competent manpower but it does not have enough resources to carry out its work effectively,” added Masunungure.
There are reports that investigating officers at the ZACC are earning far below the poverty datum line and fears are that the development would tempt them to accept bribes from those under investigation.
The ZACC chairperson, Denford Chirindo, said his commission was making efforts to address the issue.
Former Labour Minister, Paul Mangwana, admitted that cases of corruption were on the rise in Zimbabwe despite the formation of the ZACC.
“The levels of corruption are continuing to be worrisome but I do not know why,” said Mangwana. Information and Communication Technology Minister, Nelson Chamisa last month expressed doubt over the effectiveness of the ZACC, saying their failure to net big fish involved in corruption left a lot of questions over the commissions’ ability to carry out its mandate.
A 2009 report by Global Integrity revealed that the Commission is highly ineffective and has little authority to effectively address corruption in Zimbabwe.
Highly ineffective
Doubts have been cast over whether the ZACC would be able to act against Mugabe’s ministers involved in multiple farm ownerships. The ministers have been blamed for using Mugabe’s name as a cover for their fraudulent deals. The Zanu (PF) ministers and officials have been blamed for influencing the work of the ZACC.
Chirindo defended the work of his commission and said no individual was untouchable.
“We have heard some people claiming they are untouchable and they claim to have protection from the President but the truth is that the President does not want corruption. The ZACC is not influenced by anyone and no one tells us what to do,” said Chirindo.
Post published in: Analysis