Act on corruption at RG’s office

The RAU report exposes corruption as a major constraint to the access by millions of Zimbabweans to identity documentation – which is their right. According to the study, people trying to get these documents are being forced to pay bribes by touts, traditional leaders and officials from the Registrar General’s office.

Single mothers, in particular, are vulnerable to pressure from the bribe-takers because they are often asked to bring the father along – which is obviously impossible in many cases. But officials are taking advantage of the ignorance of the applicants, because the law is now very explicit on that, and permits single mothers to get the documents on their own.

Local laws and international conventions on the rights of peoples expressly demand that every person be accorded the right to acquire birth registration and other documents pertaining to identity.

It is therefore criminal, in additional to being unethical, for anyone to deliberately place obstacles in the way of people getting ID documents for themselves or their children. At the end of the day, applicants are denied the chance to obtain the all-important documents because they are too poor to afford the money being demanded as bribes.

What is disturbing is that corruption at the Registrar General’s office has been going on for a long time, with no evidence of the relevant authorities doing anything about it. Despite almost daily complaints from applicants, we hardly hear of any investigations being made – let alone arrests.

This kind of corruption is happening in a very overt manner. Officials from the RG’s office directly demand bribes while the touts openly solicit for bribes.

This betrays indifference on the part of the RG, senior officials from his office, the Anti-corruption Commission and the police. Worse still, it indicates high levels of collusion by these departments and individuals.

The police, instead of flooding the highways with officers, should deploy plain-clothed details to the registration offices. Barring the possibility of these officers conniving with the culprits, it should be possible to arrest hundreds of bribe-takers on a daily basis, considering the extent of the corruption taking place.

The arrests would act as a deterrent and, we are confident, this malaise would soon be a thing of the past. We do not require a rocket scientist to solve the growing problem of corruption at the RG’s office – the solutions are simple and are readily available. On the other hand, it is vital that the public plays a more active role.

We urge this country’s citizens to assume the role of civilian policemen and women. They ought to blow the whistle whenever they get information relating to corrupt tendencies. That is the only way we are going to stamp out this curse that is crippling our society and our economy.