Zacc on corruption
THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has called on the criminal justice system to prioritise prosecuting corruption cases as their completion was key in the fight against corruption with 60 dockets having been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority.
Speaking in an interview on Friday during a Matabeleland South national anti-corruption strategy formulation stakeholder consultative meeting in Gwanda, Commissioner John Makamure said there was also a need for anti-corruption courts to be established in all superior courts which comprised high courts and supreme courts. He said they also needed to be extended to all magistrates and regional courts. He said they have forwarded 30 high profile cases for prosecution. Comm Makamure said they were working on being awarded prosecuting powers as a commission.
“Corruption globally is being treated as an emergency by the United Nations and the same should apply with Zimbabwe, we have to treat corruption as an emergency if we are to revive our economy. We must expedite processing of cases of corruption, that is to say if there is a corruption case in court it must be completed as quickly as possible.
“We are advocating to legislate for stipulated time frames for disposing of corruption cases. The problem of corruption requires an emergency response from the criminal justice system. The courts should prioritise prosecuting corruption cases and ensure that they are completed within a stipulated time frame,” he said.
Comm Makamure said the commission was in the process of engaging relevant authorities to move with speed in that particular area. He said they had signed an MoU with National Prosecuting Authority to see how best to expedite prosecution.
“We would like to see anti-corruption courts established at the High Court and Supreme Court levels so that if one makes an appeal to the High Court the anti-corruption court at the High Court must handle that case, same applies to Supreme Court.
“That way we will begin to expedite corruption cases and the public will see that the country is serious about tackling corruption. We can’t have a corruption matter that takes five years to dispose of as people will lose confidence in the criminal justice system,” he said.
Addressing stakeholders during the meeting Comm Makamure said the country was severely affected by corruption as between US$1,7 billion to US$1,9 billion was lost each year through illicit deals and corruption accounts for the large percentage of that figure. He said that was why the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) and Vision 2030 have prioritised tackling of corruption.
“We have got the institutions and legal framework but what we lack is national consensus. What we need as a country is a national anti-corruption strategy. We need stakeholders to come together and agree on the strategy on how best to fight corruption, how it will be implemented and the role and responsibility of each stakeholder.
“This is what we are trying to do through these provincial consultative meetings. We are trying to bring together all the key stakeholders so that they dialogue on corruption. Similar meetings are being conducted throughout the country. After these meetings we are going to come up with a draft document that we will bring back to stakeholders which they will refine and adopt and then the next step will be for the President to launch that strategy,” he said.
He said oversight institutions like Parliament were expected to play a leading role in enforcing accountability and overseeing the work of the executive.
Also speaking during the same meeting, Matabeleland South Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Cde Abednico Ncube commended the commission for making significant strides in the fight against corruption which was in line with Government’s stance of zero tolerance to corruption.