HARARE Zimbabweans regard the judiciary and police service as unreliable and corrupt with some officers allegedly accepting bribes to influence the outcome of court cases, the local chapter of world corruption watchdog Transparency International said on Thursday. (Pictured: RITA MAKARAU . . . Zimbabwe's Judge President)
Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) said a study of cases reported to its advocacy and legal advice centre (ALAC) showed that out of 312 suspected cases of corruption reported to the centre by members of the public in the month of May, 38 percent were against the police. The group, which began last April recording complaints or reports of corruption from members of the public and compiling monthly reports, said a significant percentage of complaints were against members of the judiciary.
The TIZ did not give figures or give the specific level of the judiciary accused of accepting bribes. It also did not indicate which ranks or levels of the police were mainly accused of corruption. Thirty eight percent of the complaints received were against the police. There is a 13 percent increase from last months rating figures when complaints against police represented 25 percent of all ALAC complaints, the TIZ said.
Concealing evidence after receiving some incentives or personal benefits to defeat the course of justice have been the most common forms of corruption complaints relating to the police force, the group said. On the judiciary TIZ said: “Bribery within the judiciary is the major complaint received from the public. The public allege that the parties . . . bribe judicial officials to ensure favourable verdicts and to avoid conviction altogether. The public have indicated that because of this, they have lost confidence in the justice delivery system.
It was not possible to get an immediate reaction from both Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and Judge President Rita Makarau on the damaging charges levelled against the bench by the TIZ. But Attorney General Johannes Tomana vehemently rejected claims the justice delivery system was corrupt and questioned the authority of TIZ to make such claims against the countrys judiciary.
Tomana said: “What authority does TIZ have to investigate corruption? There is a whole institution with the statutory authority (Anti-Corruption Commission) to do so. They cannot just shame people by saying things they cannot prove. Their powers we do not know, their authority we do not know. Why do they not take the report to the Anti-Corruption Commission or just bring it to us?”
However the TIZ said in its report that also contains statistics of cases of suspected corruption in other sectors, including the private sector, that poverty wages paid the entire civil service had left many in the police, judiciary and other branches of government severely exposed to corruption a point once raised by Makarau two years ago.
In a speech to mark the opening of the first term of the High Court in 2007, Makarau criticised President Robert Mugabes government for undermining the judiciary by starving it of resources and reducing it to begging for its sustenance. She admitted receiving reports of support staff in the courts engaging in corrupt practices which she said was inexcusable but understandable because the paltry salaries paid support staff were not commensurate with their place in the administration of justice.
The TIZ said because of poor salaries across the civil service, where every worker regardless of rank, position or qualification is earning US$100 per month, many public servants particularly those sitting on procurement committees of government departments were engaging in corrupt activities to sustain their low incomes.
The public continue to complain about bribery and corrupt concealing of personal interests, amounting to non-disclosure of conflict of interest in some transactions by those who constitute procurement committees, the group said. The private sector, where salaries have also dwindled with the contracting economy, was also experiencing high levels of corruption, with 13. 9 percent of reports filed by members of the public linked to the private business.
The TIZ said it had forwarded some of the suspected cases of corruption to relevant state bodies for investigation but did not indicate whether follow ups had been done to establish whether authorities had actually probed the cases referred to them.
Post published in: Politics