ZACC said everyone needed to play a part in the fight
against corruption.
In her address at the African Union Anti-Corruption Day
commemoration at Chinhoyi Stadium in Mashonaland West, ZACC chairperson Justice
Loice Matanda-Moyo said corruption was an enemy of the country, the region and
Africa.
The scourge, said Justice Matanda-Moyo, was depriving the
continent of nearly US$1,3 trillion and Zimbabwe had been losing a staggering
US$1,8 billion every year.
She said the country had made strides in fighting
corruption as seen by the number of property recoveries, asset freezes and
arrests.
“We would like to advise that statistics on asset recovery
and money laundering cases have increased. Cooperation among law enforcement
agencies has also improved,” she said.
“Currently, ZACC, in collaboration with the Ministry of
Primary and Secondary Education are drafting anti-corruption curricula for the
ECD and primary school levels.”
With the curricula, said Justice Matanda-Moyo, Government,
through ZACC, wanted to inculcate virtues of integrity and honesty at a tender
age in schools.
As part of measures to encourage high levels of integrity,
provincial heads led by Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution
Minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka and traditional leaders, among others, signed
integrity pledges as a way of instilling a sense of honesty among office
bearers.
Integrity pledges are non-binding social contracts seeking
to promote personal commitment to fighting corruption.
Minister Mliswa-Chikoka committed to upholding the highest
level of integrity in the discharge of her duties and always seek to improve
herself for the benefit of people and Government.
She said Government’s economic blueprints such as National
Development Strategy 1 and Vision 2030 sought to eliminate corruption as one of
the pillars to improve social and economic development for Zimbabweans.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said ZACC was working with other
African countries, including Botswana and the international community, to fight
corruption as a way of closing hiding space for those engaged in corrupt
activities.
She bemoaned abuse of some of Government’s empowerment
programmes, including means of production such as land and mining permits.
“You find some people selling things such as mining permits
for a song and a value that does not even match what one stands to get from the
land. What this means is that we are taking our wealth to build other
countries. Africa’s wealth should remain in Africa, building the continent and
being enjoyed by Africans,” she said.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said Zimbabweans should adopt a
culture of integrity and honesty if the country was to develop.
A five-member delegation from Botswana, headed by Mr Canny
Gaolathwe of the Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crimes, attended this
year’s African Union Anti-Corruption Day in Chinhoyi.
Mr Gaolathwe said the invitation to attend the celebrations
was in honour of an agreement signed between the two countries on December 12,
2019 in Harare and their commitment to fighting corruption.
“Consequently, we committed ourselves to establishing
channels of communication to facilitate secured rapid exchange of information
concerning corruption and economic crimes,” he said.
“Exchange delegation for training and learning of the best
practices on the fight against corruption and increased cooperation in tracing
suspects in our countries and many more.”
ZACC has decentralised its operations to six of the
country’s 10 provinces, with the remainder expected to be covered by the end of
the year, before cascading to districts. Herald
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