The ZACC has faced a serious backlash after attempting to instigate investigations into alleged corruption at the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board (NIEEB) and other parastatals.
The groups are all linked to top ZANU PF officials, including Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and Saviour Kasukuwere, and have been accused of massive corruption. The ZMDC for example has been at the centre of claims that it is illegally diverting money from the Chiadzwa diamond fields for the benefit of ZANU PF.
The ZACC earlier this month got search warrants from the High Court allowing it to search the offices of the ZMDC, the NIEEB and others. But these legal searches were blocked from taking place, and the parastatals then sought an interdict preventing any further investigations by the ZACC.
The anti-graft body then faced accusations of corruption that were published in the state sympathetic media, and its top officials have been called in for questioning by the police.
The latest twist in the saga has been the hounding of the High Court judge that signed the original search warrants for the ZACC. On Saturday the state run Herald newspaper published a story claiming Justice Charles Hungwe “has come under fire from the legal fraternity for denying justice to a 55-year-old man he convicted in 2003 but has failed to sentence over the past 10 years after losing his court records.”
Farai Maguwu, the Director of the Centre for Resource Governance, said the saga is all related to the high level corruption seen within the ZMDC and other groups, saying the ZACC is paying the price for “touching the untouchables.”
“Since 2008 the ZMDC has become the cash cow for ZANU PF and some individuals in the government. We have always been saying there are a lot of irregularities in the diamond sector, the Finance Minister himself doesn’t know where the money from the mines is going. So the commission has touched a raw nerve and unsettled a lot of people who are benefiting from the extractive sector,” Maguwu said.
He added: “Just the attempt they (the ZACC) made to investigate and the heavy handed reaction of the government clearly shows that all is not well. It shows there is a convergence of interests of different sectors of government, including the police and the office of the President. The silence coming from the corridors of power clearly shows that corruption is now institutionalised.”
Meanwhile ZACC investigators have said there is political pressure on them to halt their investigations into the abuse of constituency development funds (CDF) by ministers and prominent legislators, until after the elections.
Two commission investigators told the Mail & Guardian newspaper in South Africa that there was political pressure from those implicated, who had allegedly sought an audience with the attorney general to postpone the probe. The investigators said they had been advised by their superiors that investigations must cease until after the elections.
They said all the MPs subject to their investigation were contesting forthcoming parliamentary elections. – SW Radio Africa
Post published in: News